TENS Gets Thumbs Down as Back Pain Treatment
Guidelines Say Portable Device That Applies Electric Current Doesn't Relieve Low Back Pain
Dubinsky says he expects the recommendation against the use of TENS for the treatment of chronic low back pain to be controversial among patients and prescribing clinicians.
In the same issue of Neurology, nerve pain researcher Andreas Binder, MD, of Germany’s Christian-Albrechts University argues that the fact that TENS is still widely used for the treatment of nerve-related pain suggests that it is effective for some patients.
He points out that TENS is easy to use and can be discontinued quickly if it is not working.
He concludes that despite the relatively weak scientific and clinical evidence, TENS still represents a valuable therapeutic treatment for nerve-related pain.
"Taking the favorable benefit-risk ratio when compared with other pain-relieving methods into account, TENS remains a valuable part in the armamentarium of pain therapy," he writes.
TENS Gets Thumbs Down as Back Pain Treatment
Guidelines Say Portable Device That Applies Electric Current Doesn't Relieve Low Back Pain
Second Opinion
Dubinsky says he expects the recommendation against the use of TENS for the treatment of chronic low back pain to be controversial among patients and prescribing clinicians.
In the same issue of Neurology, nerve pain researcher Andreas Binder, MD, of Germany’s Christian-Albrechts University argues that the fact that TENS is still widely used for the treatment of nerve-related pain suggests that it is effective for some patients.
He points out that TENS is easy to use and can be discontinued quickly if it is not working.
He concludes that despite the relatively weak scientific and clinical evidence, TENS still represents a valuable therapeutic treatment for nerve-related pain.
"Taking the favorable benefit-risk ratio when compared with other pain-relieving methods into account, TENS remains a valuable part in the armamentarium of pain therapy," he writes.