Does electrical muscle stimulation improve MS motor symptoms?

Up to 80% of people with MS experience fatigue, and half of those affected by fatigue report challenges when performing work, exercise, and activities of daily living. Given that the prevalence of MS is accelerating globally, it is important to identify cost-effective and viable methods to treat debilitating symptoms in a population that is growing in Australia.

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a simple and non-invasive technique that is used as a therapy for numerous health conditions. Recent research findings suggest that repeated TENS treatment on leg muscles in people with MS can improve walking capabilities, muscle strength and fatigue symptoms.

Although the underlying mechanisms that lead to improved motor function are unknown, it is likely that improvements are not due to the muscle itself. Instead, it is likely that repeated muscle stimulations send additional sensory information to the brain and spinal cord, which changes the brain’s ability to send command signals to muscles.

The team recently used advanced brain stimulation techniques to reveal that people with MS have altered sensory-to-motor processing, which is the body’s ability to take in information from the senses and use it to control movements. This was exacerbated in the presence of physical activity.

The current project will extend this work by determining if repetitive muscle stimulation modifies sensory-to-motor processing in the brain, which may ultimately lead to an increased capacity to activate muscles during motor fatigue. This work is critical for the development of evidence-based clinical and ‘at home’ treatments for motor symptoms of MS.