Bikson lecture on "How Neuromodulation for Pain Works”

Prof. Marom Bikson explains, with minimal technical language, How Neuromodulation For Pain Works.

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The lecture answers: What is "dose" in neuromodulation?  How do neuromodulation devices control dose / what are "dose instructions"?  When therapies work, what is it that is proven to work? What is the role of mechanisms in the invention of neuromodulation therapies?

What is the special role of the Gate Control Theory of Pain (by Melzack and Wall) and how did it drive modern neuromodulation for pain? 

What is Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)? What is Peripheral Nerve Stimulation (PNS)? What is Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS)? Dorsal Root Ganglion Stimulation (DRGs)? What are Evoked Compound Action Potentials (eCAPS)? What are Evoked Synaptic Activity Potentials (eSAPS)? 

The lecture uses pain as the example but the broader concepts apply to all forms of neuromodulation / brain-stimulation. 

Links to the cited works.

1. Fundamentals of Transcranial Electric and Magnetic Stimulation Dose: Definition, Selection, and Reporting Practices:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3346863/

2. Pain Mechanisms :  A New Theory https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.150.3699.971

3. Novel Evoked Synaptic Activity Potentials (ESAPs) Elicited by Spinal Cord Stimulation:  https://www.eneuro.org/content/10/5/ENEURO.0429-22.2023.long