Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for dementia.

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is the application of an electrical current through electrodes attached to the skin. The commonest clinical application of TENS is pain control. TENS is also used occasionally for the treatment of a range of neurological and psychiatric conditions including drug and alcohol dependence, headaches, and depression. TENS is rarely used for the treatment of dementia. However, since the early 1990s a number of studies carried out by a group in the Netherlands, and one study carried out by a group in Japan, suggest that TENS applied to the back or head may improve cognition and behaviour in patients with Alzheimer's disease or multi-infarct dementia. It was claimed that applying TENS could benefit patients with dementia by altering the activity of various neurotransmitters, or by increasing brain activity and thereby retarding neural degeneration and stimulating regenerative processes. It is claimed that application of TENS to the head may also alleviate the sleep disorders associated with dementia.