Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Language

English

Publication Date

4-25-2026

Journal

Bioengineering

DOI

10.3390/bioengineering13050501

PMID

42194258

PMCID

PMC13203391

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

4-25-2026

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

Breathing-controlled electrical stimulation (BreEStim) is an innovative neuromodulation intervention that synchronizes deep voluntary breathing with peripheral electrical stimulation. Prior studies have shown its analgesic effects in healthy adults and spinal cord injury patients with neuropathic pain. The present study used EEG to examine BreEStim's neural effects on sensory, affective, and cognitive components of pain. Fourteen healthy participants (7 M, 7 F) completed 30 min of BreEStim and conventional electrical stimulation (EStim) interventions in a randomized, crossover within-subject design. Electrical pain thresholds (EPT) and EEG were recorded pre- and post-intervention. Event-related potentials (ERPs) at pre-EPT-level stimuli before and immediately after each intervention were analyzed for early sensory (P30) and affective (P250) processing, while resting-state EEG assessed spectral power across delta, theta, alpha, and beta bands for cognitive processing. Both BreEStim and EStim increased EPT, indicating short-term habituation. There was no change in early ERP responses (P30) after each intervention, suggesting preserved sensory perception. BreEStim selectively reduced P250, reflective of the affective component of pain. BreEStim significantly increased delta and theta band power and reduced alpha band power on resting-state EEG analyses, whereas no significant changes after EStim were observed. Collectively, BreEStim preserves sensory encoding while selectively modulating affective and cognitive dimensions of pain, supporting its potential as a targeted, non-pharmacological neuromodulation strategy.

Keywords

breathing-controlled stimulation, cortical processing, event-related potentials, pain modulation

Published Open-Access

yes

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