What is SSP therapy?
SSP therapy is a low-frequency stimulation therapy developed
based on the idea of needle-free acupuncture.
It is an electrical stimulation therapy that stimulates the surfaceof acupressure points, which was invented by the late
Dr. Masayoshi Hyoudou, professor of the Department ofAnesthesiology of Osaka Medical College, and developed through industry-university joint development with Nihon Medix.
The therapy gives low-frequency electriﬁcation with small metalelectrodes called SSP. This therapy, which is easy to operate andhas high therapeutic eﬀects without any side eﬀects, became very
popular in a manner extreme enough to be regarded as synonymous
for low-frequency stimulation therapy, and has been studied from various perspectives.
* Deﬁnition of SSP therapy: an electrical stimulation therapy to stimulate the surface of acupressure points by placing SSP electrodeson the acupressure points. In Masayoshi Hyoudou and Toshikatsu Kitade. SSP Therapy. SSP therapy study group in Japanese.

Characteristics of SSP electrodes
Low-frequency electrical stimulation
therapies using SSP electrodes are calledTranscutaneous Electrical Acupuncture-like
Stimulation (TEAS). How can using SSP
electrodes produce the acupuncture-likeeﬀect? SSP electrodes can provide
stimulation similar to acupuncture

treatment to the body without needles.
Electricity smoothly ﬂows from the pointed
tips of silver plated SSP electrodes to thebody. The electrical density of this ﬂow is
extremely high; the electrical ﬂow
stimulates nerves with the pain that is felt
when a needle pricks the body. The pain isfelt little despite a strong electrical ﬂow
because only a very small area is stimulatedby the SSP electrode tip.

Change of the pain threshold rate.

Temporary reduction of pain threshold, thatwas elevated by SSP therapy, by naloxone.
Naloxone is an antagonistic agent against
morphine. This graph shows that a morphine-like
substance is secreted by SSP therapy.

Comparing the elevation rate of thepain threshold using an algesimeter.

Comparison of the elevation rate of
the pain threshold by potassium ion
permeation

The pain threshold elevation was signiﬁcantly changed byconcomitant use of a localized high frequency stimulation(100 Hz) with a low frequency stimulation (3 Hz) to aremote site as compared with a single application of eachone (Shoji Shinohara at. el. Examination of eﬀective
electriﬁcation conditions of SSP therapy ̶ Analgetic eﬀects
by combining high-frequency localized stimulation andlow-frequency remote stimulation. The 10th SSP therapy
central seminar lecture collection. The SSP therapy study
group, 1989 (in Japanese)).

What does an SSP electrode look like?

The greatest characteristic of SSP therapy is the SSP electrode itself.
The Silver Spike Point (SSP) electrode has the following characteristics of shape, materials
and electriﬁcation:
1. With its small spiky shaped electrode, it accurately hits the therapeutic points.
2. Remarkably durable brass is used as the material, and silver with good electriﬁcationeﬃcacy is plated on it.
3. A conical tip has an acute angle of 90º to press acupressure points eﬀectively.
4. Ideal electrical current distribution. The current concentrates on the electrode tip, anda round rimmed part disperses excessive current.
The area of the SSP electrode tip is largerthan that of a needle, but it is too small forthe body to clearly recognize the stimulationas pain. Accordingly, the SSP electrode canvery strongly stimulate the skin with keensenses. There is concern that excessive
current may cause burns, but the excessive
current also ﬂows through both the tip anda disc-shaped rim. This acts as a safety
device.

Tube cord electrodes.

Easily suck and adhere to the skin with thesucking eﬀect of a cup when placed on theskin.

Illustration of a tube cord electrode.
There is a silver SSP electrode in a cup.

Electrical characteristics and skin treatment
The corneum (a kind of grime) of the skinsurface barely conducts electricity, but muscles,
blood vessels and nerves beneath the skinconduct electricity very well. Therefore, thebody can be thought of like a bag of corneum
containing physiological saline. SSP electrodestretches this corneum ﬁlm with the tip of theelectrode to reduce the electrical resistance.

Shape of an electrode tip thateﬀectively presses a pressure point.

Image of electrical current distribution

How to use SSP therapy !

Action mechanism of SSP therapy
Gate control
theoryEliminate algesic
substances byimproving local
blood current

Descending pain
suppression eﬀect
by endogenous
morphine-likesubstances

Restoration ofthe natural
healing ability bystress reduction

Adaptation example 1
ShoulderAdaptation example 2
Lumbar

Adaptation example 3
Knee

Stimulation of tender points
around the shoulder joint, thesuprascapular nerve and thelevator scapulae muscle areeﬀective for shoulder stiﬀness
and frozen shoulder.

For general lower back pain without
structural disease, stimulation or
exercise, strengthening the erector
spinae muscles is eﬀective. Inaddition, the lumbar region is an area
where a profound synergetic eﬀect
can be obtained from concomitant
use with far-infrared ray radiation.

A variety of pains are in the knee
joint region. Selecting therapeutic
points to strengthen thequadriceps femoris muscle andreduce the joint pain is importantfor knee osteoarthritis.

Therapeutic points
Changes in the electrical resistance of the skin include a
unified change of the entire skin, and changes that occur
separately in eight large parts of the body divided into upperand lower, left and right, and dorsal and frontal. Thisphenomenon is a zone specific reaction of the sympathetic
nerve of the skin. In addition, if a subacute disorder exists inan organ or other locations, electrically conductive points
appear in specific sites of the body trunk. Electricallyconductive points also appear as reaction points in cases withpain and orthopedic disease. It is presumed that theseelectrically conductive points occur through the sympathetic
nerve. Electrically conductive points can be used astherapeutic points for acupressure points. That is, spots withspontaneous pain and tender points, which are the sites
where it hurts when pushed, are also good sites to treat withSSP electrodes. Unsurprisingly, electrifying electricallyconductive points where the electricity flows easily is much
simpler than electrifying those spots where the electricity does
not flow very well. Spots with pain and spots where theelectricity flows easily can be therapeutic points. Therapeuticpoints are not limited to acupuncture points.

Action mechanism of SSP① Conveying information in the peripheral nerves
and its effectAll stimulation is transferred through the sensory neuron(afferent neuron) and information related to extending
muscles is transferred from a muscle spindle to the central
nerve system through nerves called Ia. Information istransferred from the central nerve system to the peripherythrough motor neurons and the autonomic nerve (efferentneuron). The effects of stimulation therapies such asacupuncture and SSP therapy are primarily based on
modifying the local bloodstream amount and sensation,
especially the analgesic effect. Mechanisms called
conscious transference, gate control theory anddescending pain suppression neurologically modify pain
through stimulation therapy. Transference of theconscious is displacing a concentration of theconsciousness related to pain to another part of the body.
For example, pinching your flank when you are injectedwith a vaccine induces conscious transference, and thepain is felt as if reduced.
② Gate control theory
Gate control theory concerns preventing the transfer ofpain information through thin nerves to the central nerve at
the spinal cord level, sending a large quantity of
information from the region with pain through sensory
nerves with a thick axon to the central nerve by rubbing or
stroking the area with pain. In this case, masking the pain
information with stimulation much weaker than the pain isrequired. A large quantity of rubbing information isrequired for this purpose; therefore, soft stimulation at a
relatively high frequency (50-100 pps (Hz)) isadministered.
③ Descending pain suppression
When President Nixon of the United States and Prime
Minister Tanaka visited China in 1971, Chinese
acupunctural anesthesia was reported all over the world.
This analgetic effect provides nociceptive stimulation (painstimulation) by SSP electrode, which is transferred to thecentral nerve system, and a reaction to reduce the pain,
which is an endogenous morphine-like substance secreted
to nerve synapses, develops in the brain. As a result,information to suppress the pain descends the spinal cord;
the nerve to send the pain information to the brain issuppressed by a presynaptic inhibition to prevent thetransfer of the pain information to the brain. This is themechanism that reduces the pain. The antalgic effect of
SSP therapy utilizes this mechanism.

●Endogenous morphine-like substancesEndorphin and enkephalin are well-known asendogenous morphine-like substances. The alkaloidwith analgesic action contained in opium is calledmorphine. Although morphine is a plant substance, it
shows a strong analgesic effect on vertebrate animals
including humans because vertebrate animals havemorphine receptors (opiate receptors) in the body. Ifsuch receptors exist in the body, that means thatoriginal physiological neurotransmitters that bind tosuch receptors should exist in the body. This
substance was a mystery for a long time, but an

WKRF-SSPG-E

endogenous morphine-like substance was finallyextracted from swine brain tissue by Hughes et al. in
1975. This is enkephalin, which means in the brain.
Then, α-, γ-, and β-endorphins were discovered one
after another. Until now, about 20 substances
including neoendorphin, dynorphin and kyotorphin
have been discovered. Usually, the sympathetic
nerve is totally suppressed when such substances
are secreted; therefore, the bloodstream of the entire
body is improved and the body relaxes.

Somatic vs. autonomic reﬂex andrestoring natural healing ability
In SSP therapy, a number of electrodes (8 to 10) aremulti-segmentally placed on the body. Therefore, ananalgetic eﬀect induced by stress as well as analgetic
eﬀect due to stimulation are simultaneously produced. Asa result, the functions of the sympathetic nervous system
are suppressed, the limbs become warm, which isperipheral blood vessel dilatation, and peaceful sleep isinduced. Bloodstream improvement due to peripheral
blood vessel dilatation is also observed in addition tobreaking out of a negative pain spiral by reducing thepain. All these eﬀects can be the mechanism for a cure.
SSP therapy stops the vicious cycle of pain, as well as
reducing preexistent stress by transiently giving stress tofacilitate a natural healing ability. Electrical stimulation
never damages the tissues where SSP electrodes areplaced, but the stimulation is qualitatively pain
stimulation (nociceptive stimulation); therefore,
qualitatively more important damage information is sent
to the central nerve system than the actual disease. As aresult, the body tries to handle the condition more
seriously than the actual situation. In other words,
localized stimulation is expected to promote the naturalhealing ability.

●Zone specific reaction of the sympathetic nerve
The sympathetic nerve appears to always show thesame reaction throughout the body, but this actually
does not always happen and all regions separately
demonstrate their functions. For example, thesympathetic nerve of the lower part of the bodyincreases its activity with a change in position fromsupine to standing to ensure the blood pressure in thebrain during the change in position, which is thecontraction of blood vessels of the lower part of thebody. The sympathetic nerve systems of the skin andmuscles also show conflicting behaviors . The stellate
ganglion in the neck and lumbar sympathetic ganglion
in the lumbar region control the functions of thesympathetic nerve that has a large innervation zone
and shows the zonal function. In addition,
hemihidrosis, which appears to the right or left side or
the upper or lower half of the body by forming aboundary with the hilum, is also well-known as a zone
specific reaction of the sympathetic nerve.

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