Volume 83, Issue 1 , Pages 5-9, January 2002
Transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation: The effect of intensity on local and distal cutaneous blood flow and skin temperature in healthy subjects☆1☆2☆3☆4☆5☆6☆7☆8☆9☆10☆11
Abstract
Cramp FL, McCullough GR, Lowe AS, Walsh DM. Transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation: the effect of intensity on local and distal cutaneous blood flow and skin temperature in healthy subjects. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2002;83:5-9. Objective: To determine what effect transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (TENS) intensity has on local and distal cutaneous blood flow and skin temperature. Design: Double-blind conditions. Setting: University research laboratory. Participants: Forty subjects (20 men, 20 women) randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups (10 per group): control, above-motor-threshold TENS, below-motor-threshold TENS, or perception-threshold TENS. Intervention: TENS (4Hz, 200μs) was applied over the median nerve of the right forearm for 15 minutes. Main Outcome Measures: Blood flow measured by laser Doppler flowmeter and skin temperature measured by skin thermistor were recorded during TENS and for 15 minutes after it. Results: Significant differences occurred between groups for forearm (P < .0001; repeated-measures analysis of variance) but not fingertip cutaneous blood flow. Post hoc Fisher tests showed a significant increase in forearm blood flow during TENS application in the above-motor-threshold TENS group compared with the other 3 groups. No significant differences between groups for skin temperature data were observed. Conclusions: The effect of TENS on cutaneous blood flow depends on whether muscle activity is induced. Low-frequency TENS applied above the motor threshold significantly increases local cutaneous blood flow. There were no significant differences between groups for skin temperature. © 2002 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Keywords: Blood flow velocity, Laser Doppler flowmetry, Perfusion, Rehabilitation, Skin temperature, Transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation
☆1 Supported by the Department of Education for Northern Ireland.
☆2 No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the author(s) or upon any organization with which the author(s) is/are associated.
☆3 Reprint requests to Fiona L. Cramp, DPhil, Rehabilitation Sciences Research Group, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim, BT37 0QB, N. Ireland, e-mail: afl.cramp@ulst.ac.uk.
☆4 Suppliers
☆5 a. Grant Instruments Ltd, Barrington, Cambridge, CB2 5QZ, UK.
☆6 b. Acknowledge 881, version 2.1; Biopac Systems Inc, 42 Aero Camino, Santa Barbara, CA 93117.
☆7 c. ITO Co Ltd, 3-3, Toyotama-Minami, Nerima-ku, Tokyo 176-8605, Japan.
☆8 d. PALS electrodes; Nidd Valley Medical Ltd, Conyngham Hall, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, HG5 9AY, UK.
☆9 e. Model 1602; Gould Electronics Ltd, Instrument Systems, Roebuck Rd, Hainault, Ilford, Essex, IG6 3UE, UK.
☆10 f. Medelec Ltd, Manor Way, Old Woking, Surrey, GU22 9JU, UK.
☆11 g. Abacus Concepts Inc, 1918 Bonita Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704-1014.
PII: S0003-9993(02)73376-5
doi:10.1053/apmr.2002.27478
© 2002 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Volume 83, Issue 1 , Pages 5-9, January 2002
