Electrical stimulation for pain relief has been used for over 40 years. Most of the devices used have been TENS devices which provide temporary pain relief by blocking nerve impulses using milliamp pulsed current. PAT uses microamp current (1,000 times less current than TENS) to accomplish not just temporary pain blocking, but alleviation of the underlying causes of the pain!
Microcurrent stimulation has been used for the past 30 years by the developers of PAT for pain relief and wound healing. Their and other’s research have shown that in a mammal’s body electrical current is naturally present to conduct impulses through nerves, keep the heart running and facilitate all brain functions. Medical science has also discovered that after any injury or tissue damage, the body’s natural current, called “the current of injury” is what starts the healing process. All these currents are microcurrents.
So, milliamp current is foreign to the body and microcurrent is what the body uses within itself. In other words, in the case of electrical stimulation, more intensity of current is not better. Microcurrent is likened to whispering to the body rather than the effect of milliamps which is like shouting to the body. The true significance, as will be described below, is the physiological effect that microcurrent has on the tissue of the body at the cellular level.
Microcurrent stimulation can be either non-pulsed, flowing directly with no interruption, or pulsed with an interruption of current, creating various waveforms. This could be compared to water flowing from a garden hose. You can either let the water run continuously in a stream, or pulse it with a nozzle. Both non-pulsed and pulsed have their special actions within the body.
PAT is the only device on the market that utilizes both of these currents to effectively relieve pain.
Non Pulsed Microcurrent
In injured, damaged, and inflamed tissue, research shows that these areas have a high resistance to the flow of electrical current. Since the body naturally uses a very small amount of electrical current, called the current of injury, to facilitate the healing and repair process, the damaged tissue, because of the increased resistance, may not allow this current to freely flow. In other words, the current that should flow through the injured area actually goes around it, following the path of least resistance. Many studies have shown that non-pulsed microcurrent stimulation effectively lowers the resistance of this tissue by inducing cellular polarity (electrically lining up the cells), enabling the body’s naturally occurring currents to flow through the area.
Another effect of non-pulsed microcurrent is a phenomenon known as electrotaxis. When the current flows, an electro-magnetic field is set up between the electrodes. This field cause migratory cells to move to the affected area. These cells help speed up the healing process.
A third effect of the current is its bactericidal effects. This has been tested on many types of bacteria and has been shown to kill the bacteria, even normally resistant strains.
Pulsed Microcurrent
Like non-pulsed microcurrent, many effects have been shown for pulsed microcurrent therapy. One such effect is angiogenesis, or the increase in blood vessels and circulation in the area. The result is increased oxygenation of the tissues, an increase of nutrient availability, and an increase in the ability of the body to remove toxins and other wastes that have developed as a result of cell death and inflammation.
Another effect is an increase in energy production in the cells (increase of ATP molecules). Since repair of damaged tissue requires increase in metabolism, a large amount of energy is needed. Some studies show that up to a 500% increase in ATP occurs during microcurrent stimulation. Also, the current increases protein synthesis of the cells. Proteins are the necessary building blocks to repair damaged tissue, whether it is bone, muscle, nerve, or other soft tissue. The transport mechanism of the cells (membrane transport) is also enhanced, enabling the nutrients to enter the cells that need them. The net result is a dramatic reduction of the injured, damaged and inflamed tissue’s recovery time; that is the tissue heals faster. This leads to what is termed as homeostasis or a return to a normal state of the tissues. Since pain is primarily caused by a disruption of homeostasis from any cause, a return to normal means an alleviation of the pain that was a symptom of the damage. Unlike any other treatment like drugs or even TENS that merely masks the pain or blocks the perception of pain by the brain, microcurrent therapy alleviates pain by treating the underlying problems with the inflamed tissues.