• Bosede Abidemi Tella, Saturday Nicholas Oghumu, and Caleb Ademola Omuwa Gbiri.
• Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria.
• Neuromodulation. 2022 Dec 1; 25 (8): 140314091403-1409.

ObjectivesTranscutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and interferential currents (IFC) are pain electrotherapies with questioned efficacy. Studies of their effects on tactile acuity of individuals with nonspecific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP) are limited, hence, this study.Materials And MethodsThirty-three individuals with NSCLBP randomly allocated into three groups completed this study. Data collected from participants included age, gender, and anthropometric characteristics of height, weight, body mass index, and percentage body fat measured with standard instruments. Also, participants' tactile acuity, pain intensity, and disability were assessed before and after interventions with digital caliper, numerical pain rating scale, and Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire, respectively. Interventions consisted of stretching, strengthening, and stabilization exercises to all three groups in addition of TENS to group 1 and IFC to group 2, respectively, for five weeks. Descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation summarized the data. Inferential statistics of paired t-test, independent t-test, and analysis of variance tested the level of significance among variables at p ≤ 0.05.ResultsTactile acuity was significantly (p < 0.05) increased after TENS intervention only, while pain intensity was significantly (p < 0.05) reduced after the three interventions. The result showed no gender difference in tactile acuity values among the participants.ConclusionsTENS increases the tactile acuity of individuals with NSCLBP, whereas IFC demonstrated no significant change in tactile acuity.Copyright © 2022 International Neuromodulation Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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