Microcurrent therapy has already been widely used in the cosmetic industry, especially in facial equipment as in anti-wrinkle/anti-aging devices, as well as in Acupuncture, sports injury recovery, and the treatment of pain. Microcurrent devices are approved in the category of TENS devices by the FDA. Traditional TENS devices deliver milliamp current, which blocks pain messages that are trying to get up the spine to the brain. Microcurrent, on the other hand, delivers a very low level, subsensory micro-amperage DC current, which is a 1000 times less than traditional TENS devices. It has been shown in published studies to increase production of ATP by up to 500% in tissues. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the biochemical way to store and use energy in cells. We are made of cells. Without ATP energy, cells would not survive.

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In the book written by Orthopedic surgeon and author of The Body Electric, Dr Robert Becker, MD, he noted that because the body’s nervous system runs on DC current, the most effective healing occurs with DC stimulation. It is noted that the human nervous system appears to not respond well to strong, disruptive stimuli. According to Dr. Becker, therapy approaches such as TENS appear to be “screaming” at the nerves, rather than “whispering” to them as they would through microcurrent stimulation.

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This can also be explained by the Arndt/Schulz law of physics, where German psychiatrist Rudolf Arndt (1835-1900) and German pharmacologist Hugo Schulz (1853-1932) stated that weak stimuli increase physiologic activity, while strong stimuli inhibit activity. When working with pain, it suggests that less electricity could be more effective than more of it. Arndt-Schulz law may also explain why micro-amperage currents may be more effective than milli-amperage currents for pain relief.