low back pain Mon Jul 5th @ 2:00pm
TENS for low back pain passes the easy tests but fails the hard ones
Transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (TENS) is a popular, common treatment for low back pain.
Unfortunately, this January review of TENS experiments in Neurology found that it showed benefit only in lower quality (class II) studies, and not even in all of those. When tested proper-like in better quality (class I) studies … nada. Thus TENS “is not recommended for the treatment of chronic low back pain.”
I’m shocked.
“Assessment: efficacy of transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation in the treatment of pain in neurologic disorders (an evidence-based review),” an article in Neurology, 2010.
