Saturday 4 July 2015

The Process Of Tdcs Therapy And Its Merits

By Edna Booker


The transcranial direct stimulation process is one that has been in existence for quite some time now. It was initially designed to help the patients who had some severe brain injuries such as strokes. It has however been advanced over the years to help with other various effects. If you are wondering what this process is, or what it generally entails, then you are in the right place. The tdcs uses direct current from a powered device to pass some current through the brain of a patient. The current is passed using some electrodes placed on the scalp of the patient.

The practice was first designed to help people diagnosed with brain injuries such as stroke in their therapy. It has however been advanced over the years to help with other various activities. This includes; improving attention span, increasing problem solving ability and reducing memory loss among others. The different effects can be achieved by placing the electrodes at different locations of the head. This leads to the stimulation of different neurons and hence different result are attained. The practice has been proven to be safe for use provided safety protocols are followed.

The chemistry behind this technique is very simple. It only entails passing a current either from either electrode, through the brain neurons and to the other opposite charge electrode. The electrodes should be carefully set at areas where the simulation will be required. Wrong setting of the electrodes will lead to the attainment of different than the expected results.

Current used in this process is aimed at increasing or reducing the excitement that the neurons in the brain have. The level of excitement for these neurons affects different activities in the human brain such as attention span. By passing current from a positive cathode, the excitement is increased while passing the current from the cathode to the anode results in a reduction of the neurons excitement. The level of excitement in turn leads to different behaviors of the patient.

The process is easy to set up for provided the therapist has the required tools and device in place. You need to have a powered device that can be able to deliver you constant direct current during the whole process. You also need to have two or more electrodes which will be positive and negative simultaneously. Current is designed to either flow from a positive charge electrode to a negative one or the other way round.

You should then prepare the skin where the electrodes will be placed at the scalp. This should be done to ensure that the electrodes have a strong connection to the skin for maximum effectiveness. The pads used for connecting the electrodes to the skin are different in styles and designs. The smaller and many in numbers that they are, the better they will be able to create a stronger connection.

One electrode should be placed at the point that needs stimulation and the other on the opposite side of it. The device is then turned on and current let to flow through for some timed period. It can be increased gradually if necessary.

In recent times, the therapy has adopted the use of several electrodes for the process other than just the common type that uses two. This ensures optimal simulation. In the end, long lasting and more effective results are achieved.




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