New Treatment Helps Back Pain
A new study shows eletrical nerve stimulation is an
effective way to provide short-term pain relief of lower
back pain.

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical
Center in Dallas compared the effectiveness of exercise
therapies to percutaneous electrical stimulation (PENS) and
transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TENS) in 60
patients.

PENS involves inserting thin needles into the soft tissue
of the lower back while TENS involves placing four
electrode pads on the back. All study participants received
all three therapies as well as the control group therapy,
which included placing the needles in the same areas as the
PENS treatment, but without the electrical stimulation.
Each treatment was given individually for three weeks
during the four-month study.

Study results showed PENS was more effective than TENS or
the exercise therapy in delivering short-term pain relief
while also improving physical function in 91 percent of the
patients, researchers report in the March 3 issue of the
Journal of the American Medical Association.

"The PENS therapy was also significantly more effective in
improving physical activity, quality of sleep and sense of
well-being," researchers write.

Lower back pain is one of the biggest physical complaints
in the United States, which is why there is a growing
interest in nonpharmacological treatments such as
acupuncture and spinal manipulation, researchers say.

     

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