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Abstract
The literature on the cranial application of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is reviewed. Three studies are reported which evaluate some physiological and psychological effects of cranial TENS of different frequencies, and investigate whether this treatment may be useful in the management of stress, offering improvements in experimental design and instrumentation over past cranial TENS research. In a pilot study, significant reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and anxiety, but not in pulse rate, peripheral vascular tension or skeletal muscle activity, were observed in treatment-blind normal subjects after 30 minutes of sine-wave constant alternating current cranial TENS of 100 Hertz (Hz) frequency, as compared to a no treatment control. No placebo TENS effect was observed. In a second study, employing a double-blind procedure, significant reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and pulse rate, but not in peripheral vascular tension or anxiety, were observed in normal subjects after 30 minutes of cranial TENS of 100 Hz frequency, but not after cranial TENS of 5 Hz or 2000 Hz, as compared to a no treatment control. No placebo TENS effect was observed. In a third study, also double-blind, significant reductions in systolic blood pressure, pulse rate and anxiety, but not in diastolic blood pressure or peripheral vascular tension, were observed in normal subjects after 30 minutes of 100 Hz cranial TENS as compared to a no treatment control. No placebo TENS effect was observed. No significant group differences were observed in physiological or psychological response to 3 minutes of standardized experimental stress (mental arithmetic), which immediately followed the 30 minute treatment phase. Results are discussed in terms of the potential of cranial TENS for the management of stress.
