We evaluated the efficacy of two popular electrotherapy devices, the TENS and the Neurostim, for pain control in chronic low backache.

After obtaining ethical committee approval we designed a prospective randomised study. We withdrew pain medication from 24 patients, aged 40 to 85 years, attending the pain clinic because of chronic degenerative backache, and instituted a four-week course of treatment five days a week with either TENS or Neurostim. Both the patient and the physiotherapist were blinded. All patients signed an informed consent form and completed pain scale assessments before and after each treatment. A statistician evaluated the records.

The TENS apparatus functions with a voltage of 0.3 and an upper frequency of 15 000 Hz. The voltage pulse width is 50 to 250 ( biphasic. The Neurostim functions with a voltage of 8.2 and an upper frequency of 16 000 Hz. The voltage pulse width is 3 100 μ monophasic.

Slight skin pad irritation occurred in few patients. None of the patients reported worsening of pain during treatment. Twenty patients had significant relief of pain after treatment, lasting until the next treatment except for over weekends, when the pain increased again. There was no significant difference in the pain relief produced by the two devices.

Electrotherapy is an effective and virtually complication-free way of controlling chronic low backache.