Abstract
BackgroundLow back pain is an important public health problem that is associated with poor quality of life and disability. Among the electrophysical treatments, interferential current (IFC) has not been studied in patients with low back pain in a high-quality randomised controlled trial examining not only pain, but pain mechanisms and function.Methods/designA three-arm randomised controlled trial with patient and assessor blinded to the group allocation. One hundred fifty patients with chronic, nonspecific low back pain from outpatient physical therapy clinics in Brazil. The patients will be randomly allocated into 3 groups (IFC 1 kHz, IFC 4 kHz or Placebo IFC). The interferential current will be applied three days per week (30 minutes per session) over four weeks. Primary outcome: Pain intensity. Secondary outcomes: The pressure pain threshold, global impression of recovery, disability, function, conditioned pain modulation and temporal summation of pain, discomfort caused by the current. All outcomes will be measured at 4 weeks and 4 months after randomisation. The between-group differences will be calculated by using linear mixed models and Tukey’s post-hoc tests.DiscussionThe use of a placebo group and double-blinding assessor and patients strengthen this study. The present study is the first to compare different IFC carrier frequencies in patients with chronic low back pain.Trial registrationBrazilian Registry of Clinical Trials: http://RBR-8n4hg2
Highlights
Low back pain is an important public health problem that is associated with poor quality of life and disability
The use of conservative therapies such as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and manual therapy in experimental models suggests that these treatments can reduce the central sensitization in animals and could desensitise the central nervous system (CNS) in humans [6,7]
This study demonstrated that a 1 kHz frequency provides a higher hypoalgesic response compared with 8 kHz or 10 kHz during and after interferential current (IFC) stimulation
Summary
Low back pain is an important public health problem that is associated with poor quality of life and disability. Interferential current (IFC) has not been studied in patients with low back pain in a high-quality randomised controlled trial examining pain, but pain mechanisms and function. Low back pain is an important public health issue that directly affects an individual’s quality of life and activities of daily living (ADLs) [1]. Low back pain is responsible for many absences from work and has high worldwide socioeconomic costs [2]. Inefficient endogenous pain control and central sensitivity are important characteristics in patients with low back pain [4]. The use of conservative therapies such as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and manual therapy in experimental models suggests that these treatments can reduce the central sensitization in animals and could desensitise the central nervous system (CNS) in humans [6,7]
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