Acupuncture Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Acupuncture, including details on alternative medicine, uses, benefits, treatment, chinese medicine.

Comparison of post-treatment effects of conventional and acupuncture-like transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS): A randomised placebo-controlled study using cold-induced pain and healthy human participants.

Francis RP, Marchant PR, Johnson MI

Faculty of Health, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK.

TENS can be administered in conventional (high frequency, low intensity) or acupuncture-like (AL-TENS: low frequency, high intensity) formats. It is claimed that AL-TENS produces stronger and longer-lasting hypoalgesia than conventional TENS, although evidence is lacking. This randomised controlled parallel group study compared the effects of 30 minutes of AL-TENS, conventional TENS, and placebo (no current) TENS, on cold-pressor pain threshold (CPT), in 43 healthy participants. Results showed a greater increase in mean log(e) cold-pressor pain threshold relative to baseline for both AL-TENS and conventional TENS vs. placebo TENS, and for AL-TENS vs. placebo 5 and 15 minutes after TENS was switched off. There were no statistically significant differences between conventional TENS vs. placebo or between AL-TENS vs. conventional TENS at 5 or 15 minutes after TENS was switched off. In conclusion, AL-TENS but not conventional TENS prolonged post-stimulation hypoalgesia compared to placebo TENS. However, no differences between AL-TENS and conventional TENS were detected in head-to-head comparisons.

Published 4 July 2011 in Physiother Theory Pract.
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