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I don't know about you, but I'm always eager to hear new and alternative methods of pain control…
This study examined the effectiveness of transcutaneous electrical nerve stilumlation (TENS) in patients with abdominal pain. Patients were randomized to TENS or sham applied to the abdomen. The primary outcome of interest was change in pain score 30 min after the intervention, and secondary outcome was percentage of patients requiring rescue analgesia. Pain scores were measured on a verbal numeric score scale with a range from 0 to 10, with any adult patients with a minimum score of 5 being eligible.
The mean reductions in pain scores after the intervention were also similar in patients treated with TENS and sham TENS (1.9 vs. 1.7 respectively, p = 0.81). THe use of rescue analgesia was 49% in patients treated with TENS and 51% in those who received sham TENS (p=0.66). No adverse events were noted.
The authors did note that there is a challenge in blinding due to toeh absence of electrical stimulation in the sham group; nonetheless, TENS was not found to be more effective than sham. It also did not reduce the need to rescue analgesia.
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References
McMahon B, Prabhu A, Thode HC Jr, Singer A. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) versus sham TENS in adult ED patients with abdominal pain: A clinical trial. Am J Emerg Med. 2024;76:7-12. doi:10.1016/j.ajem.2023.10.035