Conventional versus acupuncture-like transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation on cold-induced pain in healthy human participants: effects during stimulation - PubMed (original) (raw)
Randomized Controlled Trial
Conventional versus acupuncture-like transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation on cold-induced pain in healthy human participants: effects during stimulation
Richard P Francis et al. Clin Physiol Funct Imaging. 2011 Sep.
Abstract
Objectives: To compare the hypoalgesic effects of conventional transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) (high frequency, low intensity) and acupuncture-like TENS (AL-TENS, low frequency, high intensity) on cold-induced pain.
Design: Randomized controlled parallel group study comparing the effects of strong non-painful AL-TENS, conventional TENS and placebo (no current) TENS on cold-pressor pain threshold (CPT) and pain intensity. Two baseline (pre-intervention) measures and three during intervention measures of CPT and cold pain intensity (four point category scale) were recorded.
Setting: Physiology laboratory in Leeds Metropolitan University.
Participants: One hundred and twenty-one healthy participants.
Interventions: Each participant received one of three TENS interventions over their flexor digitorum profundus: (i) high pulse rate TENS with a strong non-painful paraesthesia (conventional), (ii) low-rate burst mode TENS that caused strong non-painful phasic muscle twitching (acupuncture like) or (iii) no current (placebo) TENS.
Main outcome measure: Difference between conventional TENS and AL-TENS in cold pain threshold relative to pre-TENS baseline after 25 min of stimulation.
Results: No differences were detected for CPT or cold pain intensity during conventional TENS compared with AL-TENS. When compared with placebo TENS, the confidence intervals for the ratio of intervention CPT to baseline CPT, for both AL-TENS (0·966, 1·424) and conventional TENS (0·948, 1·401), were close to the positive side of one, although neither reached statistical significance.
Conclusions: Unlike some previous studies, the present study detected no differences in hypoalgesia between AL-TENS, conventional TENS and placebo (no current) TENS during stimulation.
© 2011 The Authors. Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging © 2011 Scandinavian Society of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine.
Similar articles
- A comparison of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) at 3 and 80 pulses per second on cold-pressor pain in healthy human participants.
Chen CC, Johnson MI. Chen CC, et al. Clin Physiol Funct Imaging. 2010 Jul;30(4):260-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-097X.2010.00936.x. Clin Physiol Funct Imaging. 2010. PMID: 20662877 Clinical Trial. - Hypoalgesia in response to transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) depends on stimulation intensity.
Moran F, Leonard T, Hawthorne S, Hughes CM, McCrum-Gardner E, Johnson MI, Rakel BA, Sluka KA, Walsh DM. Moran F, et al. J Pain. 2011 Aug;12(8):929-35. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2011.02.352. Epub 2011 Apr 9. J Pain. 2011. PMID: 21481649 - Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and acupuncture-like transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation for chronic low back pain.
Gadsby JG, Flowerdew MW. Gadsby JG, et al. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2000;(2):CD000210. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD000210. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2000. PMID: 10796326 Updated. Review. - The characteristics of acupuncture-like transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (acupuncture-like TENS): a literature review.
Francis RP, Johnson MI. Francis RP, et al. Acupunct Electrother Res. 2011;36(3-4):231-58. doi: 10.3727/036012911803634139. Acupunct Electrother Res. 2011. PMID: 22443026 Review.
Cited by
- Efficacy and Feasibility of Pain management and Patient Education for Physical Activity in Intermittent claudication (PrEPAID): protocol for a randomised controlled trial.
Abaraogu UO, Dall PM, Brittenden J, Stuart W, Tew GA, Godwin J, Seenan CA. Abaraogu UO, et al. Trials. 2019 Apr 16;20(1):222. doi: 10.1186/s13063-019-3307-6. Trials. 2019. PMID: 30992033 Free PMC article. - Duration of Analgesia Induced by Acupuncture-Like TENS on Experimental Heat Pain.
Tousignant-Laflamme Y, Brochu M, Dupuis-Michaud C, Pagé C, Popovic D, Simard ME. Tousignant-Laflamme Y, et al. ISRN Pain. 2013 Apr 7;2013:792383. doi: 10.1155/2013/792383. eCollection 2013. ISRN Pain. 2013. PMID: 27335882 Free PMC article. - Efficacy and safety of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation to treat muscle spasticity following brain injury: a double-blinded, multicenter, randomized controlled trial.
Zhao W, Wang C, Li Z, Chen L, Li J, Cui W, Ding S, Xi Q, Wang F, Jia F, Xiao S, Guo Y, Zhao Y. Zhao W, et al. PLoS One. 2015 Feb 2;10(2):e0116976. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0116976. eCollection 2015. PLoS One. 2015. PMID: 25643051 Free PMC article. Clinical Trial.
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical