Article

Acupuncture-like TENS (AL-TENS) has been shown to produce prolonged
pain relief, but no study has yet investigated its duration on a population
suffering from chronic low back pain (CLPB). OBJECTIVE:
Our objective was to
quantify the duration and magnitude of analgesia induced by a 15- or 30-minute
application of AL-TENS. METHODOLOGY: We recruited a sample of 11 participants
presenting with CLBP and conducted a randomized, crossover study, where
participants were given AL-TENS for 15 and 30 minutes on two separate occasions.
The pain intensity of their CLBP was assessed with a visual analogue scale
before, during, and after AL-TENS applications. Magnitude and duration of
analgesia were determined for each subject and for both AL-TENS application
times. RESULTS: The AL-TENS applications induced a clinically and statistically
significant (p = 0.003) analgesia in all participants. Median duration of
analgesia was 9 hours and 10 hours 30 minutes following the 15- and 30-minute
AL-TENS applications, respectively; this 1.5-hour difference was not
statistically significant (p = 0.55). Furthermore, we observed no significant
difference in the magnitude of analgesia between both applications of AL-TENS (p
> 0.56), suggesting that the duration of application of AL-TENS does not
influence the magnitude of analgesia. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that
clinicians could use a 15-minute AL-TENS application to provide significant
analgesia in patients presenting with low back pain since if provides a
comparable analgesia versus a 30-minute application.

Langue : ANGLAIS