The journal of knee surgery
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Use of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation Device in Early Osteoarthritis of the Knee.
Some have proposed the use of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) as an adjunct to the current standard of care in treatment of osteoarthritis knee pain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of TENS on the following issues in patients who have early-stage osteoarthritis of the knee: (1) pain reduction; (2) subjective and (3) objective functional improvements; (4) quality-of-life (QOL) measure improvements; and (5) isokinetic strength. A prospective, randomized, and single-blinded trial was performed on 23 patients who were randomized to either novel TENS device or standard of care. ⋯ In addition, within the TENS cohort, patients had a significant reduction in pain via VAS at their 3-month follow-up. In conclusion, the use of TENS for 3 months has shown encouraging results to improve pain, function, and QOL in patients with painful osteoarthritic knees, and could positively contribute as an adjunct to current nonoperative treatment of knee arthritis. However, given our small sample size, larger randomized studies are needed to further evaluate these outcomes.