Stimulating the clitoris with electrical impulses could increase arousal to treat low libido. In a small study, half an hour of stimulation raised women’s arousal by several points on a 1 to 5 scale, including in some participants with spinal cord injuries that affect their ability to experience genital sensations.
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| Stress, hormonal changes and health problems can all affect libido PeopleImages/iStockphoto/Getty Images |
Some degree of sexual dysfunction affects an estimated 2 in 5 pre-menopausal women worldwide. Symptoms vary in severity and can include not feeling aroused, struggling to orgasm and experiencing pain or discomfort during sex. These can be caused by many factors, including stress, hormonal changes and other health problems, such as spinal cord injuries or arthritis.
Elizabeth Bottorff at the University of Michigan and her colleagues explored whether applying electrical impulses to the dorsal genital nerve – which is involved in sexual pleasure – in the clitoris would increase arousal in five women, two of whom had spinal cord injuries. All the women had sexual dysfunction, as assessed via a survey. No transgender people were included in the study.
In a clinic, the researchers placed two 3-centimetre-wide circular electrodes on the clitoris of each woman and applied weak electrical impulses to their dorsal genital nerve for half an hour. The participants ranked how sexually aroused they felt before and after the stimulation.
The three participants without a spinal cord injury reported that their arousal increased by 1 to 2 points on the 5-point scale, while the two with a spinal cord injury reported an increase of 2 to 3 points.
The participants didn’t experience any side effects, but the intervention may not be safe for everyone if developed into an at-home treatment. If something goes wrong, women with spinal injuries that result in them having no genital sensations could end up with burns or nerve damage, says Stacy Elliott at the University of British Columbia, Canada.
It is also unclear how long the beneficial effects might last. But repeated stimulation sessions over time could potentially lead to more pronounced improvements in sexual function, say the researchers.
“With [electrical stimulation] of any nerve, there is usually an instant result that fades with time, but sexual arousal and payoff can go beyond direct stimulation,” says Elliott. Repeatedly using this stimulation to help “rewire the brain in a positive way” will probably have long-term effects, but further research with a larger group of participants is required, she says.
Stimulation to the dorsal genital nerve could also be explored alongside audio or video materials that further enhance arousal in future studies, say the researchers.
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