Neuromodulation and pain management: key advances in the past year

When the source of chronic or acute pain can be identified as a specific nerve or nerve group, neuromodulation (such as stimulation of the nerve with electric fields) can be a successful strategy for pain relief. Today, we take a look back at five top journal articles showing major advancements in the field from the last year.  Remote electrical neuromodulation for acute treatment of migraine in adolescents  Chronic migraine is a condition that can be significantly disabling and distressing, and recent developments in neuromodulation technology have provided an alternative to painkillers in managing migraine pain.  This study from December concerned the Nerivio® neuromodulation device (Theranica Bio-Electronics Ltd, Netanya, Israel), a wearable, non-invasive, patient-controlled armband device that stimulates peripheral nerves in the upper arm with electrical pulses to relieve migraine pain. The mechanism of action for this...