Review on Tremor Suppression Using Afferent Electrical Stimulation

Abstract

Pathological tremor is the most prevalent movement disorder and affects daily living activities. Research on tremor suppression over the past five years suggest that transcutaneous stimulation below the motor threshold (also known as afferent or sensory stimulation) has a powerful inhibitory effect on the descending supraspinal tremorogenic input by means of spinal interneurons. The aim of this study was to review the most recent and promising strategies to suppress tremor using afferent electrical stimulation in two main pathologies: Essential Tremor (ET) and Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Five studies were retrieved from PubMed database. Most of these studies reported at least 40% of tremor reduction during afferent stimulation and one article reported a suppression effect five minutes after stopping the stimulation. More research on how to maximize the suppression lasting effect as a therapeutic tool is required.