Modeling for non-contact Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)

Pain is the most common reason for seeking medical attention in the U.S. Pain is classified as either acute or chronic, with the latter being of much greater concern. A common treatment strategy for chronic pain is masking, that is, the stimulation of large afferent nerve fibers to mask sensation from the small pain nerve fibers. Transcutaneous Electro-Neural Stimulation (TENS) remains popular for this task, nonetheless, there are limitations that prevent it from being used for continuous pain relief. Here, we investigate the feasibility of developing a non-contact TENS technology that may overcome these limitations while achieving similar efficacy. Simulation models of a working laboratory configuration were built using PSPICE to understand and optimize various design parameters to build a model that may work in the human body. Future work required to build such a device is also discussed.