Systems and methods for the treatment of pain through neural fiber stimulation of efferent nerve fiber
First Claim
1. A method of reducing a perception of pain, the method comprising the steps of:
- inserting a single contact electrode in-vivo a therapeutically effective distance from a target efferent nerve fiber;
electrically stimulating through the electrode the target efferent nerve fiber to generate an action potential in the target efferent nerve fiber while avoiding generation of action potentials in a non-target nerve fiber.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
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.
13 Citations
29 Claims
-
1. A method of reducing a perception of pain, the method comprising the steps of:
-
inserting a single contact electrode in-vivo a therapeutically effective distance from a target efferent nerve fiber; electrically stimulating through the electrode the target efferent nerve fiber to generate an action potential in the target efferent nerve fiber while avoiding generation of action potentials in a non-target nerve fiber. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method of reducing a perception of pain, the method comprising the steps of:
-
percutaneously inserting a lead, the lead having an electrode, wherein the electrode is at a therapeutically effective distance from a target efferent nerve fiber; electrically stimulating through the electrode the target efferent nerve fiber to generate an action potential in the target efferent nerve fiber while avoiding generation of action potentials in a non-target nerve fiber; and removing the lead and electrode, wherein pain relief is generally maintained for a time after the removal. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A method of reducing a perception of pain, the method comprising:
electrically stimulating through a single contact electrode inserted in-vivo a plurality of target efferent motor nerve fibers to generate an action potential in the plurality of target efferent motor nerve fibers while avoiding generation of action potentials in small sensory nerve fibers. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
Specification