Subliminal electrical and mechanical stimulation does not improve foot sensitivity in healthy elderly subjects

Deterioration of cutaneous perception may be one reason for the increased rate of falling in the elderly. The stochastic resonance phenomenon may compensate this loss of information by improving the capability to detect and transfer weak signals. In the present study, we hypothesize that subliminal electrical and mechanical noise applied to the sole of the foot of healthy elderly subjects improves vibration perception thresholds (VPT).

VPTs of 99 healthy elderly subjects were measured at 30 Hz at the heel and first metatarsal head (MET I). Participants were randomly assigned to one of five groups: vibration (Vi-G), current (Cu-G), control (Co-G), placebo-vibration (Pl-Vi), and placebo-current (Pl-Cu). Vi-G and Cu-G were stimulated using 90% (subliminal) of their individual perception thresholds for five minutes in a standing position. Co-G received no stimulation. The placebo groups were treated with mock stimulation. VPTs were measured twice before the intervention (baseline (BASE) and pre-measurement (PRE)), and once after the intervention (post-measurement (POST)).

Significant differences were found between measurement conditions comparing BASE and POST, and PRE and POST. VPTs between groups within each measurement condition showed no significant differences. Vi-G was the only group that showed significantly higher VPTs in POST compared to BASE and PRE, which contradicts previous studies.

We analyzed increased VPTs after subliminal mechanical stimulation. The pressure load of standing for five minutes combined with subliminal stimulation may have shifted the initial level of mechanoreceptor sensitivity, which may lead to a deterioration of the VPT. The subliminal electrical stimulation had no effect on VPT.

Based on our results, we cannot confirm positive effects of subliminal electrical or mechanical stimulation on the sole of the foot.