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Review
. 2024 Jan 25:15:1278200.
doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1278200. eCollection 2024.

From brain to spinal cord: neuromodulation by direct current stimulation and its promising effects as a treatment option for restless legs syndrome

Christina A H Dirks  1 , Cornelius G Bachmann  1
Affiliations
Review

From brain to spinal cord: neuromodulation by direct current stimulation and its promising effects as a treatment option for restless legs syndrome

Christina A H Dirks et al. Front Neurol. .

Abstract

Neuromodulation is a fast-growing field of mostly non-invasive therapies, which includes spinal cord stimulation (SCS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), vagal nerve stimulation (VNS), peripheral nerve stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS). This narrative review offers an overview of the therapy options, especially of tDCS and tsDCS for chronic pain and spinal cord injury. Finally, we discuss the potential of tsDCS in Restless Legs Syndrome as a promising non-invasive, alternative therapy to medication therapy.

Keywords: chronic pain; neuromodulation; restless legs syndrome; transcranial direct current stimulation; transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic overview of the proposed effect of anodal tsDCS on RLS in the spinal network.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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