Pain: theories and a new approach to treatment.

Various theories of pain are reviewed in an attempt to understand its mode of action. The therapeutic effects of a new, noninvasive form of treating pain, utilizing electrical units which selectively stimulate the sensory nerves, are discussed.PATIENTS WITH PAIN OF VARYING DEGREES OF SEVERITY AND OF MANY DIFFERENT ETIOLOGIES WERE TREATED WITH A NEW FORM OF TREATMENT: transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). The authors' results have shown this method to be highly successful in the treatment of patients, most of whom had been treated unsuccessfully with conventional medical and surgical approaches.TENS affords a new dimension in the current concept of treating pain.