Asfane Sabouhi, edited by Gauthier Delomez 9:04 am, November 12, 2021

Of the 14 million French people who suffer from chronic back pain and joint pain, drug treatments are not effective for three out of four people.

The solution could lie in the technique of neuromodulation, which can provide relief for up to one in two patients.

If you have back pain, you may be one of the 14 million French people who suffer from chronic pain.

Nearly three in four people have not found suitable treatments, whether for the back, osteoarthritis of the joints, migraines, fibromyalgia or endometriosis.

However, research is advancing and the solution does not lie in drugs alone.

It could well be neuromodulation, or stimulation of the nerves located in the lower back.

Europe 1 explains this promising technique to you.

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Pain is a chemical message that drugs work on.

But, it is also an electrical message sent to the brain via the nerves.

Neuromodulation therefore consists of short-circuiting the transmission of this message by sending current to avoid pain.

To do this, there is a patch version, called TENS, which the person applies directly to the painful area.

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Up to one in two patients relieved

There are also heavier options suitable for rebellious pain such as the after-effects of surgery. "You can put a small electrode behind the spinal cord, the equivalent of an epidural, but instead of pouring liquid, this returns an electric current which will scramble the entire painful component", explains Marc Lévêque, neurosurgeon at Marseille, which advances another effective innovation, transcranial magnetic simulation. "We send a fairly powerful magnetic field to the surface of certain areas of the brain, and we have about half of the patients who are relieved," he emphasizes.

A very good result for a treatment for pain, while some drugs only work in one in six patients.

To benefit from neuromodulation, you must go to one of the 250 centers for the fight against pain in France, and be patient because the delays are particularly long.