Does four weeks of TENS and/or isometric exercise produce cumulative reduction of osteoarthritic knee pain?
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the cumulative effect of repeated transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) on chronic osteoarthritic (OA) knee pain over a four-week treatment period, comparing it to that of placebo stimulation and exercise training given alone or in combination with TENS. DESIGN: Sixty-two patients, aged 50-75, were stratified according to age, gender and body mass ratio before being randomly assigned to four groups. INTERVENTIONS: Patients received either (1) 60 minutes of TENS, (2) 60 minutes of placebo stimulation, (3) isometric exercise training, or (4) TENS and exercise (TENS & Ex) five days a week for four weeks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to measure knee pain intensity before and after each treatment session over a four-week period, and at the four-week follow-up session. RESULTS: Repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant cumulative reduction in the VAS scores across the four treatment sessions (session 1, 10, 20 and the foll
