Systems and methods for the treatment of pain through neural fiber stimulation
First Claim
1. A method of reducing a perception of pain, the method comprising the steps of:
- percutaneously inserting a single contact electrode operatively coupled with a lead in-vivo in a patient a therapeutically effective distance from a target efferent nerve fiber;
electrically stimulating through the lead and 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 small sensory nerve fiber to generate a reduction of pain in the patient.
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.
-
Citations
23 Claims
-
1. A method of reducing a perception of pain, the method comprising the steps of:
-
percutaneously inserting a single contact electrode operatively coupled with a lead in-vivo in a patient a therapeutically effective distance from a target efferent nerve fiber; electrically stimulating through the lead and 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 small sensory nerve fiber to generate a reduction of pain in the patient. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A method of reducing a perception of pain, the method comprising the steps of:
-
percutaneously inserting a lead into a patient, the lead having an electrode extending therefrom, wherein the electrode is positioned at a therapeutically effective distance from a target motor axon; electrically stimulating through the electrode the target motor axon to generate an action potential in the target motor axon while avoiding generation of action potentials in Type III and Type IV afferent nerve fibers; and removing the lead and electrode, wherein pain relief is generally maintained for a time after the removal. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A method of reducing a perception of pain, the method comprising:
-
percutaneously inserting a lead having a single contact electrode into a patient; and electrically stimulating through the single contact electrode inserted in-vivo by an electrical stimulator 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 (16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A system to reduce a perception of pain, the system comprising:
-
a lead; a single contact electrode operatively coupled with the lead, the electrode percutaneously inserted into a patient; and an electrical stimulator operatively coupled with the lead, the electrical stimulator electrically stimulating through the single contact electrode 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 (21, 22)
-
-
23. A system to reduce a perception of pain, the system comprising:
-
a percutaneous lead; a single contact electrode operatively coupled with the percutaneous lead, the electrode placed in at least one of muscle, subcutaneous, connective or adipose tissue located near a nerve trunk upstream from a region of pain; an electrical stimulator operatively coupled with the lead, the electrical stimulator electrically stimulating through the single contact electrode 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.
-
Specification