Systems and methods for the treatment of pain through neural fiber stimulation
First Claim
1. A method comprising the step of:
- electrically stimulating through an electrode inserted in-vivo at least one of Type Ia and Ib target afferent nerve fibers in a predetermined manner to generate an action potential in the at least one of Type Ia and Ib target afferent nerve fibers while avoiding generation of action potentials in non-target Type III and IV nerve fibers in an animal to reduce a perception of pain by the animal, wherein the at least one of Type Ia and Ib target afferent nerve fibers are located outside a central nervous system of the human.
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Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for the treatment of pain through activation of select neural fibers. The neural fibers may comprise one or more afferent neural fibers and/or one or more efferent neural fibers. If afferent fibers are stimulated, alone or in combination with efferent fibers, a therapeutically effective amount of electrical stimulation is applied to activate afferent pathways in a manner approximating natural afferent activity. The afferent fibers may be associated with primary receptors of muscle spindles, golgi tendon organs, secondary receptors of muscle spindles, joint receptors, touch receptors, and other types of mechanoreceptors and/or proprioceptors. If efferent fibers are stimulated, alone or in combination with afferent fibers, a therapeutically effective amount of electrical stimulation is applied to activate intrafusal and/or extrafusal muscle fibers, which results in an indirect activation of afferent fibers associated therewith.
31 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method comprising the step of:
electrically stimulating through an electrode inserted in-vivo at least one of Type Ia and Ib target afferent nerve fibers in a predetermined manner to generate an action potential in the at least one of Type Ia and Ib target afferent nerve fibers while avoiding generation of action potentials in non-target Type III and IV nerve fibers in an animal to reduce a perception of pain by the animal, wherein the at least one of Type Ia and Ib target afferent nerve fibers are located outside a central nervous system of the human. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 15, 16)
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10. A method of reducing a perception of pain by an animal of a hypersensitized portion of the animal nervous system, the method comprising the steps of:
applying electrical stimulation to at least a portion of the nervous system through an electrode inserted in-vivo to generate an action potential in target Type I afferent nerve fibers while avoiding generation of action potentials in non-target Type III and Type IV afferent nerve fibers causing a reduction of perception of pain by the animal. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
Specification