Abstract:
Burst Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation (TENS) is a form of pain therapy that
offers strong contractions at lower frequency. It combines the efficacy of low-TENS and
the comfort of conventional high-TENS. The waveform used in most common TENS
device is Asymmetrical Biphasic Modified Square Wave pulse. Burst-TENS stimulates
both nerve types simultaneously, thereby activating the AB sensory fibers and the pain
gate mechanism and by the rate of burst, each burst will produce excitation of the AD
fibers therefore stimulating the opioid mechanism. A randomized control trial (RCT) was
conducted at the National Institute of Rehabilitative Medicine in Islamabad to form the
Interventional Group and the Control Group of participants based on their advised
treatment method. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used as a pain scale index to record
pre-treatment and post-treatment scores between 0 and 10. Screening and case reporting
of each participant was followed by using statistical tools to record significant changes in
pain intensities of both groups. Analysis of variation (ANOVA) was applied to analyze
the difference among group means. Burst- TENS reduces pain intensity significantly
better than routine therapy (heat and exercise). TENS physiotherapy is safe, inexpensive
and patient friendly. It has no adverse or side-effect compared to pharmaceutical
intervention.
