2012 年 10 巻 4 号 p. 311-317
We determined current perception thresholds (CPT) for arm and mental foramen areas for quantitative evaluations of the effectiveness of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) treatment at acupoints. This study of the relationship between frequency and time of stimulation had demonstrated TENS-induced sensory inhibition. Eleven subjects (6 male and 5 female) volunteered to be administered TENS for sessions of varying duration (5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes) and stimulation frequencies (2 Hz and 100 Hz) at the Hegu (LI4) acupoint. We assessed CPTs for the left arm and mental foramen areas before and after TENS at the Hegu (LI4) acupoint of the left hand. Neurometer CPT was used to evaluate perception thresholds at the homolateral mental foramen and arm. The application of low-frequency and high-frequency TENS on the Hegu (LI4) and Quchi (LI11) acupoints raised the perception threshold of the left mental foramen. We assessed the relationship between these effects and TENS stimulation frequencies and treatment duration. We found that applying TENS to the Hegu (LI4) and Quchi (LI11) acupoints increased CPT values in the mental foramen area. Low-frequency TENS inhibited slow pain response, while high-frequency TENS inhibited both fast and slow pain response. The effects of TENS showed greater frequency dependence than time dependence.
