Journal of shoulder and elbow surgery
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J Shoulder Elbow Surg · Sep 2017
Randomized Controlled TrialTranscutaneous electrical nerve stimulation for postoperative pain relief after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair: a prospective double-blinded randomized trial.
Arthroscopic rotator cuff repair (ARCR) can be associated with significant postoperative pain. Concern for opioid abuse has led surgeons to identify alternative, efficacious methods of postoperative analgesia. To determine whether transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) can have a similarly beneficial effect after shoulder procedures, we conducted a prospective double-blinded randomized trial in patients undergoing outpatient ARCR. ⋯ Results from this prospective double-blinded randomized trial demonstrate that compared with placebo TENS, active TENS can result in significantly less pain and reduced opioid use in the immediate postoperative period after ARCR, suggesting that TENS may be potentially useful in a multimodal approach to managing postoperative pain.