DEVICES AND METHODS FOR SELECTIVELY ACTIVATING AFFERENT NERVE FIBERS

Implementations described herein include a device including a stimulation transducer operably coupled to a stimulation controller. The stimulation transducer focally delivers energy to a target tissue at a selected depth below the surface of the skin of a subject and the stimulation controller generates a signal indicating a selected pulse intensity, a selected pulse duration, and a selected treatment session duration sufficient to heat the target tissue to a temperature from 40 to 45 degrees Celsius via application of energy by the stimulation transducer. When the stimulation transducer receives the signal from the stimulation controller, the stimulation transducer focally delivers energy having the selected pulse intensity, the selected pulse duration, and the selected treatment session duration to heat the target tissue to selectively and reversibly activate afferent nerve fibers having thermo-sensitive ion channels to send sensory information to the central nervous system without causing any permanent changes to the target tissue.