Effect of transcutaneous electrical neural stimulation (TENS) at lumbar segmental.

Originally published in El Dolor journal 2013; 60:20-25.

Abstract

Concerning the physical agents utilized in physicaltherapy, transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (TENS) is commonly used to treat muscular problems, edemas and painful processes, among others. The following study is aimed at determining the hypoesthesia effects’s of TENS application at a segmental medullary level, on the lower limbs. To develop the study, fourteen students (aged 18 and 24 years old) from the Medicine Faculty were chosen by convenience. They were divided randomly into two groups: one for control and the other experimental. For both groups the initial pressure threshold was determined through a pressure algometer on the lower left extremity’s quadriceps muscle. Then the experimental group was stimulated with TENS on the corresponding lumbar level (L3, L4). In the meantime, in the control group a similar situation was simulated, without current flow. Finally, the pressure threshold was measured again in both groups through the initial method. The results showed that there is a significant difference (p=0,001) between the pressure threshold occurring before, and after the TENS application in the experimental group. On the contrary, the group control didn’t show any significant difference (p=0,140). Therefore, this shows the hypoesthesia effect’s generated in the limbs by the electrostimulation on the corresponding lumbar level. This would be very useful in the TENS application on patients suffering from muscle-skeletal disorder, thus avoiding the contact with injured zone, which can present pain, hyperalgesia, or allodynia.