Home-based self-administered transcranial direct current stimulation in older adults with knee osteoarthritis pain: An open-label study

Publication date: Available online 29 May 2019Source: Journal of Clinical NeuroscienceAuthor(s): Hyochol Ahn, Setor Sorkpor, Hongyu Miao, Chengxue Zhong, Ricardo Jorge, Lindsey Park, Salahadin Abdi, Raymond Y. ChoAbstractClinic-based transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive brain stimulation technique that has been shown to improve pain. However, no published studies have reported using home-based self-administered tDCS in older adults with knee osteoarthritis (OA). The present study aimed to evaluate the preliminary efficacy and feasibility of home-based self-administered tDCS with real-time remote supervision on clinical pain, anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances in older adults with knee OA. Twenty 50- to 85-year-old community-dwelling participants with knee OA received 10 daily home-based sessions of 2 mA tDCS for 20 min with real-time remote supervision. We measured clinical pain severity via the Visual Analog Scale, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index, and Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire. We assessed anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) anxiety-short form, depression-short form, and sleep disturbance-short form, respectively. All 20 participants completed all 10 home-based tDCS sessions without serious adverse effects. Both clinical pain severity and sleep disturbances were improved after completion of the 10 tDCS sessions....
Source: Journal of Clinical Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research