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Transcranial magnetic stimulation usually involves holding a device that generates a magnetic field over someone鈥檚 head. It鈥檚 been .
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Now it is being tested on something else 鈥� bed-wetting, but this time the magnetic field is generated over the lower back.
Children who don鈥檛 grow out of wetting the bed are usually treated with drugs or night-time alarms that wake the child if they detect moisture, but neither approach always works.
A team, led by and colleagues at Assiut University Hospital in Egypt, wondered whether transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) could help.
They recruited 44聽children aged between 10 and 18 who were taking drugs for the problem but still had night-time accidents. Half the group received about 7聽minutes of TMS a day for 10聽days. The others got a sham treatment in which the paddle was tilted so the magnetic field was directed away from the back.
Both groups started wetting the bed much less, dropping from about six times a week to just once. This was still the case one month later for the children who received the properly directed TMS. The others returned to wetting the bed with their previous frequency.
Khedr says the mechanism is unknown, but TMS could have changed the functioning of the nerves in the lower back.
鈥淭MS does seem to cause long-term changes to nerves,鈥� says of the University of Swansea, UK. 鈥淏ut it could also be affecting the muscles involved in bladder control.鈥�
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