Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation Improves Low Back Pain during Pregnancy

Abstract

Background: To compare the efficiency of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) with those of exercise and acetaminophen for the treatment of pregnancy-related low back pain (LBP) during the third trimester of pregnancy. Methods: This prospective study included 79 subjects (≥32 gestational weeks) with visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores ≥5. Participants were divided randomly into a control group (n = 21) and three treatment groups [exercise (n = 19); acetaminophen (n = 19); TENS (n = 20)]. The VAS and the Roland-Morris disability questionnaire (RMDQ) were completed before and 3 weeks after treatment to assess the impact of pain on daily activities. Results: During the study period, pain intensity increased in 57% of participants in the control group, whereas pain decreased in 95% of participants in the exercise group and in all participants in the acetaminophen and TENS groups. Post-treatment VAS and RMDQ values were significantly lower in the treatment groups (p < 0.001). VAS and RMDQ scores indicated a significantly greater degree of pain relief in the TENS group than in the exercise and acetaminophen groups (p < 0.001). No adverse effect of TENS application on pregnant women was observed during the study. Conclusion: TENS is an effective and safe treatment modality for LBP during pregnancy. TENS improved LBP more effectively than did exercise and acetaminophen.

Pulsed Radiofrequency Treatment of Piriformis Syndrome in a Pregnant Patient with Malign Mesenchymal Tumor

“…In one-third of pregnant women, this pain is a severe problem and has an adverse effect on the quality of life. [8] For a pregnant woman presenting with low back pain, a detailed history and physical examination should be conducted. the goal is to exclude pregnancy-related back pain from other causes of pain such as UtI, osteomyelitis, sciatica, lumbar disk lesion or prolapse, arthritis of spine or hip, lumbar stenosis, cauda equina syndrome, spondylolisthesis, PS, etc.…”

“…Underlying conditions might be inflammatory, infectious, traumatic, neoplastic, degenerative, or metabolic. [8,9] Ostgaard et al investigated whether biomechanical factors such as weight gain, abdominal circumference measure, sagittal and transverse abdominal diameter, lumbar lordosis depth, and hyperlaxity affect pain development during pregnancy. they found that increase in sagittal abdominal diameter and lumbar lordosis depth are influential.…”

Low Back Pain in Pregnancy: Investigations, Management, and Role of Neuraxial Analgesia and Anaesthesia: A Systematic Review

“…However, timing of acupuncture during preg- [86,87] . One study compared no treatment (control arm) to 3 intervention groups (exercise, acetaminophen and TENS respectively) and found TENS to be as effective as exercise and acetaminophen [88] .…”

Improving acute pain management in emergency medicine

“…Formulations that facilitate more rapid drug absorption may provide rapid pain relief and allow NSAID use with fewer adverse effects compared with traditional NSAIDs (Table 2) [94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112]. Intranasal drug administration may provide a simple, noninvasive therapy that could allow for rapid pain relief following opioid [94,95] or NSAID administration with limited systemic exposure [113].…”

“…For example, muscular pain or dysmenorrhea and labor pain may be treated using transcutaneous electrical stimulation. A study of 79 patients suffering from low back pain in the third trimester of pregnancy found that transcutaneous electrical stimulation provided superior pain relief compared with acetaminophen [104], and a metaanalysis found that it reduced analgesic use in patients with postoperative pain [105]. However, the evidence for its efficacy in acute pain is not robust, and larger studies are needed [159].…”