## 4 Discussion
When considering studies on experimentally induced pain, it was found that some authors [22] have claimed that they did not observe the impact of hormonal changes in individual phases of the menstrual cycle on the pain stimuli perception in women, while others [21; 27] have clearly stated that the changing hormonal balance has an impact on the stimuli perception, especially in the ovulatory phase. There are also studies [26]showing that in healthy women, pain is felt more strongly in the luteal phase, which is just before the onset of menstrual bleeding. In [28], in which the phase of the menstrual cycle was confirmed by examining sex hormones from women's blood serum, it was found that although women are more sensitive to various harmful stimuli than men, the menstrual cycle does not affect pain sensitivity to cold, heat, or ischemic stimuli, nor does it have an impact on the differences between the sexes in sensitivity to these pain stimuli. In [26], the authors unequivocally stated that the higher incidence of clinical pain and the greater experimental pain sensitivity in women suggest a clearly significant role of female sex hormones. This is despite the consensus of previous literature reviews that the menstrual cycle influences the perception of pain in women, with the greatest sensitivity occurring in the ovulatory or luteal phases [28]. A thematic literature review conducted by [PERSON] et al. [29] again brought a contradictory conclusion. It stated that there was no consistent evidence for the effects of the menstrual cycle on the perception of pain and various noxious stimuli, with the possible exception of higher pain thresholds in the postovulatory phase. Clearly, the issue of research on the external stimuli perception being affected by the hormonal changes taking place in a woman's body during their menstrual cycle still remains open, given that it is clearly visible that in clinical settings, women report more painful symptoms and higher pain scores than men and symptoms often differ from the stated hormonal status. The differences between the sexes in the clinical pain experienced begin to manifest themselves particularly strongly in women during puberty, followed by pain disorders predominating in the reproductive years and in the severity of symptoms often reflecting cyclical changes in the menstrual cycle [29]. This study showed that women with a higher total body water content have a lower current perception threshold. The electrical current flows through the human body, \"selecting\" tissues that are most hydrated and that offer the least resistance to the flow [20]. It seems logical that the higher the water content in a woman's body, the lower the resistance to the flow of current; therefore, women feels electrical stimuli at lower current values and her sensory threshold is lower. Similarly to the total body water content, the level of skin hydration, especially in the stratum corneum, plays a significant role in the perception of electrical stimuli. When performing electotherapeutic procedures, it is obligatory to use pads soaked in water that separate the electrodes from the skin. This water then moisturizes the stratum corneum, thus changing its properties and reducing the resistance to the flow of current. In this study, in each case, care was taken to soak the pads in water of the same temperature and to ensure the same level of saturation, so that the level of stratum corneum hydration was similar in all subjects tested. It is also known that the stratum corneum layer is thicker in men than in women [30; 31], which may be one of the reasons for the higher current sensation threshold in men. In contrast to the above, when the electrical current encounters resistance while flowing through, for example, the adipose tissue of much lower electrical conductivity, it may \"return\" to the moisturized skin, because it \"chooses\" to flow through the area with the lowest resistance.