Lhermitte's sign (barber chair phenomenon) is not widely understood as a disease, but a condition or sign caused by other underlying body unwellness. Do you wonder what are the causes of electrical injury? It is Lhermitte's. It happens when you experience a pain burst that moves like an electric shock from the neck to the arms, legs, back, and toes. Mostly, the shock wave happens when an individual bends their head toward the chest, twists their neck, gets extremely tired and gets overheated.

That pain is experienced due to a dysfunction that happens in the dorsal column. Within the spinal cord, humans have nerves system that transmits sensory information to the brain for interpretation. When you touch anything, or your body gets vibrated, signals are sent to the brain. In cases when these signals are interrupted and not transmitted normally, you will experience Lhermitte's sign.

Top Causes or Triggers of Lhermitte's sign

Lhermitte's sign is experienced as a result of the following conditions. Only after a doctor's diagnosis will you know which condition is causing you to experience it.

• Multiple sclerosis: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one condition that leads to Lhermitte's sign. An MS infection causes the body immune system (white blood cells) to launch an attack on the fatty coating of the nerves, a condition called myelin. When the nerves around your spinal cord are affected, nerve tissues develop scars. Those scars interfere with nerve messages or signals transmission. Lhermitte's is a symptom that erupts due to such signal disruption.

• Vitamin B12 deficiency: Vitamin B12 is vital for the normal functioning of the nerve system. It is responsible for preventing demyelinating disorder which impairs the nerve system. When demyelinating disorder strikes due to lack of vitamin B12, the myelin sheath that coats nerves fiber wears off, causing Lhermitte's sign as a symptom.

• Transverse myelitis: An infection in the spinal cord can be the most terrible thing to ever experience. Transverse myelitis condition is responsible for inflammation on either side of the spinal cord. When one suffers from this condition, signal transmission for interpretation purposes is affected. The swelling or inflammation damages the myelin sheath resulting in poor or complete blockage of the signal transmission. The ultimate result is this symptom called Lhermitte's sign.

• Cervical spinal cord tumors: When this condition befalls a human being, their spine functionality is badly affected. This kind of tumor might grow in or anywhere around the spinal cord discs. In cases where either a malignant or benign tumor grows, nerve system around your spinal cord gets the biggest blow. Apart from these tumors causing muscles weakness, numbness, and mobility ineffectiveness, a disruption of nerves to cause Lhermitte's sign is also a possible outcome.

• Cervical spondylosis: Cervical Spondylosis is mostly associated with age although it might be caused by other factors. Some refer to it as cervical osteoarthritis or neck arthritis. It affects discs around the human spine where it results in chronic bone degeneration. As the degeneration advances, it affects the nerve system. Any effect on the nerve means that signal transmission to the brain is impaired. Such an effect or disruption on the nerves is the causes of electrical injury known as Lhermitte's sign.

Best Treatment Methods for Lhermitte's Sign

Although Lhermitte's does not pose any severe health danger, it causes some unwelcome discomfort. The best option that a patient has in dealing with Lhermitte's signs is to consider professional help in dealing with the underlying condition causing it. Below are some of the treatment methods.

• Use neck brace or collar: One of the body movement that triggers this electric shock-like effect is neck bending. By using a soft neck brace or collar, you can avoid sudden neck movement or over-bending to a certain point which can trigger the pain.

• Posture adjustment: Lhermitte's sign which feels like electric shocks in the body is mostly triggered by body movement. There are some standing, sitting and lying posture which causes this pain. It is essential that a physiotherapist is involved to help you know and come up with some postures that will avoid triggering Lhermitte's effect.

• Relaxing is key (massage, breathing exercises, stretching): Once you have realized that you suffer from Lhermitte's, it is vital that your body parts and organs, especially muscles, are relaxed. Muscle relaxing can be done through exercise, stretching, deep breathing, and massaging. These physical activities will help you do away with Lhermitte's effect which happens as a result of tiredness. Additionally, such actions will help you relieve the pain.

• TENS: TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) is a kind of electric current used for pain relieving or therapeutic purpose for the nervous system. The TENS method makes use of a device with electrodes of frequency 10-50Hz. That device is placed on the skin to help control pain. Additionally, this device stimulates the production of endorphins (natural body painkillers).

• Medication: In the quest to give a solution to pain resulting from Lhermitte's sign, a doctor might prescribe some drugs to help in easing the pain. Medicines like gabapentin, amitriptyline, pregabalin, duloxetine can be useful for the patient.

In conclusion, Lhermitte's is a manageable condition. It is not something that causes any serious alarm if one is well informed. By using the above information for reference purposes and taking some doctor's advice, it is possible to manage Lhermitte's signs fully.