Effectiveness of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in management of neuropathic pain in patients with post traumatic incomplete spinal cord injuries

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) in management of neuropathic pain in post-traumatic incomplete spinal cord injury patients.

Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted from January 2017 to June 2017 at Paraplegic Center Hayatabad, Peshawar. Total 60 incomplete spinal cord injured patients with diagnosis of neuropathic pain were subjected to high frequency TENS of 80 HZ. One session was of 45 minutes while there were two sessions per day. TENS was applied for four days in a week and all patients were followed for eight week duration. Pain intensity was measured by using VAS (Visual analogue scale).

Results: Mean pain intensity on VAS at baseline was 6.45 which was decreased to 4.77 post intervention at day-1 while it was decreased to 3.48 at day-4 of week one. After application of TENS for 8 weeks, mean pain intensity was decreased to 2.80 ± 1.74. During the consecutive sessions of the TENS application, the pain intensity decreases in a linear fashion and there were significant difference (p<0.05) between pre and post treatment sessions.

Conclusion: TENS is useful and safe adjuvant in spinal cord injury patients for the management of neuropathic pain.