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Effect of adjuvant frequency-specific microcurrents on pain and disability in patients treated with physical rehabilitation for neck and low back pain. Gautam M. Shetty, Pallavi Rawat, Anjali Sharma

Abstract: 


Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of adjuvant frequency-specific microcurrent (FSM) application on
pain and disability in patients treated with physical rehabilitation for mechanical low back pain (LBP)
and neck pain (NP).
Methods: In this retrospective case-control study, pre- and post-treatment numerical pain rating scale
(NPRS) score, Oswestry disability index (ODI) score, neck disability index (NDI) score, disability cate-
gories, and treatment outcome categories were compared between 213 patients in the FSM group (167
patients with LBP, 46 patients with NP) and 78 patients in the control group (61 patients with LBP, 17
patients with NP).
Results: In LBP patients, mean post-treatment NPRS score was significantly lower (p ¼ 0.02) and a
significantly higher percentage of patients were in the ?3 NPRS score (p ¼ 0.02), in the minimal
disability (p ¼ 0.01), and the full success (p ¼ 0.006) categories post-treatment in the FSM group when
compared to the control group. In NP patients, there was no significant difference in the post-treatment
pain intensity, disability or treatment outcome when the 2 groups were compared.
Conclusions: The use of adjuvant FSM application in patients treated with physical rehabilitation for LBP
significantly improved pain and disability when compared to patients in the control group. Frequency
specific microcurrent could be a useful adjuvant in the rehabilitation treatment of patients with low back
pain.