Electrical stimulation add-ons show no clear extra benefit for chronic neck pain
Adding TENS or interferential current to a multimodal therapy program did not significantly improve the trial's main neck-disability outcome.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Adding either form of electrical stimulation did not produce a statistically significant advantage on the main neck-disability measure. Some secondary pain and function results differed between groups, but none reached clinical significance. The trial therefore provides no clear evidence of a meaningful extra benefit from these additions within the tested program.
The abstract does not supply effect estimates or confidence intervals for the main outcome. It also provides limited detail about the therapy program, restricting assessment of precision and relevance to other rehabilitation settings.
What researchers found
Neck Disability Index
Therapy alone versus therapy plus either electrical modality; assessments followed 8 weeks of treatment and occurred again at a 1-month follow-up.
The main outcome
The primary measure assessed neck-related disability. Its result matters because it was the trial's main test of added benefit. A nonsignificant difference does not establish that the treatments are equivalent in every respect.
Secondary results need context
Pain findings varied by whether pain occurred at rest or during movement and by assessment time. The authors report that none of the observed differences reached clinical significance, tempering the importance of isolated favorable comparisons.
The original publication
Does Adding Electroanalgesic Modalities to a Multimodal Therapeutic Program Improve Clinical Outcomes in Individuals With Chronic Nonspecific Neck Pain? A Randomised Controlled Trial.
de Santana GN, da Silva ACB, Dos Santos PG et al.
Eur J Pain · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40910433
- Record checked
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