Clinical physiology and functional imaging
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Clin Physiol Funct Imaging · Jul 2010
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyA comparison of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) at 3 and 80 pulses per second on cold-pressor pain in healthy human participants.
Electrophysiological studies suggest that there are differential frequency effects during TENS. The aim of this experimental study was to assess the effects of strong non-painful TENS administered at 3 pulses per second (pps) and 80 pps on cold-pressor pain in healthy human participants. A repeated measure design was used with participants receiving TENS at 3 pps and 80 pps in the same experiment. ⋯ The differences after 15 min of TENS were 1.70 s to 3.70 s (95% CI) for threshold and 6.63-15.5 mm (95% CI) for pain intensity. In conclusion, strong non-painful TENS at 3 pps was superior to 80 pps at reducing experimentally induced cold-pressor pain. The implications of these findings are discussed.