A set of scientists at
The University of Manchester, United Kingdom, have shown for the first time
that if the brain is ‘tuned-in’ to a particular frequency, pain could be
alleviated, reports ITRealms.
Experts, ITRealms gathered defined chronic pain
as pain which lasts for more than six months; is a real problem for many
people, with 20-50 per cent of the general population estimated to suffer from
it, comprising 20 per cent of consultations in general practice.
According to these
scientists, it is a much greater problem in the elderly with 62 per cent of the
United Kingdom (UK) population over 75 year’s old suffering from it.
“Chronic pain is often
a mixture of recurrent acute pains and chronic persistent pain. Unfortunately
there are very few treatments available that are completely safe, particularly
in the elderly,” says Dr Kathy Ecsy, the lead scientist of this project.
Nerve cells, she
explained on the surface of the brain are co-ordinated with each other at a
particular frequency depending on the state of the brain. Alpha waves, she
said, are tuned at 9-12 cycles per second have been recently associated with
enabling parts of the brain concerned with higher control to influence other
parts of the brain.
For instance
researchers at the Human Pain Research Group at The University of Manchester
found that alpha waves from the front of the brain, the forebrain, are
associated with placebo analgesia and may be influencing how other parts of the
brain process pain.
This, the team of scientist
said, led to the idea that if man could ‘tune’ the brain to express more alpha
waves, perhaps we can reduce pain experienced by people with certain
conditions.
ITRealms reports that Dr Kathy Ecsy and
her colleagues in The University of Manchester’s Human Pain Research Group have
shown that this can be done by providing volunteers with goggles that flash
light in the alpha range or by sound stimulation in both ears phased to provide
the same stimulus frequency. They found that both visual and
auditory stimulation significantly reduced the intensity of pain induced by
laser-heat repeatedly shone on the back of the arm.
Professor Anthony
Jones is the director of the Manchester Pain Consortium which is focused on
improving the understanding and treatment of chronic pain.
“This is very exciting
because it provides a potentially new, simple and safe therapy that can now be
trialled in patients,” he said.
At recent public
engagements events, ITRealms gathered that showed they had a
lot of enthusiasm from patients for this kind of neuro-therapeutic approach.
Further studies, ITRealms gathered are required to test
the effectiveness in patients with different pain conditions but the simplicity
and low cost of the technology should facilitate such clinical studies.
Dr Chris Brown, who is
a Lecturer in Psychology at The University of Liverpool, who was involved in
the research while working in Manchester, said: “It is interesting that similar
results were obtained with visual and auditory stimulation, which will provide
some flexibility when taking this technology into patient studies. For
instance this might be particularly useful for patients having difficulty
sleeping because of recurrent pain at night.”
The paper, ‘Alpha-Range
Visual and Auditory Stimulation reduces the Perception of Pain’, will be
published in the European Journal of Pain.
Chuks Egbune/GEE
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