Just as rubbing a stubbed toe shuts a gate within the spinal cord, so can electric stimulation fire up the pressure nerves.
Healthcare providers today use electrical signals in a less fishy, decidedly less sloppy application called a TENS device — short for transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation.
"The disadvantage of the conventional mode TENS is that it is temporary," says Brian Murray, a physical therapist and rehab team coordinator at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. "People can build a tolerance."
However, stimulating the skin with a TENS unit can help many different types of pain — a weekend warrior who's injured himself, a person recovering from surgery, or a person in chronic pain who's trying to function — all relatively easily.
"It's not something where we strap them down to the table and wait until their hair stands up," says Murray. "You end up with a tingling feeling as if your foot falls asleep."
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