Effect of Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy in Cervical and Lumbosacral Spine-Related Pain: A Systematic Review

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction: Spine-related pain is a very common musculoskeletal disorder seen among the general population. There are many approaches to manage spine-related pain which are being implemented by physiotherapists, worldwide. Pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy is a novel electrotherapeutic approach, which consists of magnetic field packed in impulse bundles which permeate all cells in the body simultaneously working at the cellular level, thus reaching all parts of the body. There is a dearth of systematic reviews conducted to prove its effect. Methods: The keywords search included “pulsed electromagnetic field therapy” AND (“spinal pain” OR “lumbar pain” OR cervical pain’ OR “low back ache” OR “chronic low back pain” OR “lumbago” OR “chronic neck pain” OR “chronic low back ache”) AND “randomised controlled trial.” This systematic review is registered with PROSPERO-215632. Only randomized controlled trials are included. The databases searched include PubMed, Medline, PEDro, and Google Scholar and other database resources available. All research articles till October 21, 2020, are included. Bias is avoided as two different authors are reviewing the articles independently and wherever a question of dispute arises a third author intervened. Results: A total of 235 articles were selected in the preliminary search. Two hundred and twenty-three articles were rejected either due to duplication or full text not available or not related to PEMF therapy and spine-related pain. Twelve articles were finally selected for the systematic review. Articles were analyzed according to a verified data extraction format. A synthesis of results was obtained by analyzing for the main outcome measure, i.e., pain and function. Discussion: A brief summary of strengths and limitations of research articles was noted. Conclusion: It concluded that PEMF therapy was effective in treating.