THE MODERN VARIANT OF TRANSCRANIAL ELECTRICAL STIMULATION FOR THE TREATMENT OF PATIENTS PRESENTING WITH DORSOPATHIES

The present work was devoted to the treatment of patients suffering dorsopathy of the lumbar vertebral column using transcranial electrical stimulation and auricular electrical stimulation techniques. The study included 90 patients (41 women and 49 men) aged from 26 to 52 years presenting with lumbosacral dorsopathy in the phase of prolonged exacerbation. The patients were allocated to 3 groups of 30 subjects each. Those in group 1 were treated by transcranial electrical stimulation (TES) (in addition to basal therapy) using the standard scheme with the temporal placement of electrodes. The patients of group 2 underwent electrical stimulation with the use of auricular sensors. Each course of electrical stimulation consisted of 10 procedures (20 min each) performed every other day. The control patients (group 3) were given only standard basal-therapy including the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents, segmental massage, and remedial gymnastics. Clinical manifestations of the disease, psychoemotional status of the patients (well-being/activity/mood test and multifactor personality test), and peripheral hemodynamics in the lower extremities were estimated. The stable therapeutic effect was achieved in 50-70% of the patients in groups 1 and 2. It was apparent after 4.6 and 6.7 procedures in the patients presenting with reflex and radicular syndromes respectively. No adverse effects of the treatment were documented. The results of the study confirm the advantages of the auricular variant of transcranial electrical stimulation that appears to potentiate therapeutic effects of physiotherapy and reflexotherapy.

dorsopathies, chronic pain, peripheral hemodynamics, transcranial electrical stimulation, auricular electrical stimulation