Jul 24, 2006 3:08 pm US/Eastern
New Device Could Help Doctors Find Pain Faster
by Dr. Mallika Marshall
BOSTON (CBS4) ―
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Gabriella Huseman looks fine, but it hurts to walk -- she has pain in her shin area.
CBS
Millions of Americans are living with pain and it can often be difficult to treat because doctors can't figure out what's causing it. But now researchers are testing a new device that may be able find an answer sooner.
Gabriella Huseman looks fine, but it hurts to walk -- she has pain in her shin area. For doctors, a major challenge in treating muscle pain is figuring out what muscle the pain is coming from.
"In the shoulder for example there's 18 muscles that move the shoulder, and if you feel pain when you move it how do you know which muscle is causing it," said Norman Marcus of the NYU School of Medicine.
To find it, Dr. Marcus is testing a new device developed by a team of students at the Stevens Institute of Technology. The machine works very simply: It sends electricity into the muscles, getting them to move.
"It allows us to stimulate one muscle at a time," said Dr. Marcus.
And that allows him to pinpoint the one causing the pain.
"It doesn't look like it's anything but it hurts, there's electricity something coming out of it that really recreates the pain," said Huseman.
The device is now undergoing trials to see if it can accurately detect pain in different parts of the body -- including one of the hardest places to diagnose, the back.
Back pain is tricky because the problem may be in the muscles or it could be in the spine, and it can take expensive tests to find the answer.
Dr. Marcus says this cheap device allows him to rule in or rule out muscles as the culprit. "If I stimulate and have no pain then that's very important information for me because then I can say I really feel confident going ahead and getting those expensive tests and getting those expensive interventions."
If the testing is successful Dr. Marcus believes we could one day see this device in doctors offices everywhere.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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