Perceptions and electric senoidal current stimulation.

OBJECTIVE To analyze the relationship between perceptions and electrical senoidal current stimulation (ESCS). METHOD The study population comprise 100 healthy volunteers. ESCS of 5 Hz and 2 kHz were applied to the left index finger at one and 1.5 sensory threshold. Following each stimulus train a list of eight words (four related to thin fiber sensations and four related to thick fiber sensations) was presented to the subjects who were asked to choose the three words closer to the experienced sensation. Each chosen word was given a score 1; final results were obtained by the sum of the scores for the words related to thin and thick fiber systems for each situation. RESULTS For 5 Hz ESCS at one and 1.5 sensory threshold thin fibers had significantly higher scores than thick fibers; for 2 kHz ESCS, thick fibers had significantly higher scores. CONCLUSION These results show that there is a relation between different sensations and ESCS of different frequencies.