The Study
A transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation device for the relief of neuropathic pain in NMOSD: A randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled trial
This study tested whether a TENS (zap) machine helps with nerve pain in people with NMOSD. They split 46 people into two groups - one got a real TENS machine, the other got a fake (sham) machine that looked the same. Both groups reported less pain after 4 weeks! But here's the tricky part: the fake machine worked just as well as the real one. This means we can't say the real TENS machine actually causes the pain relief - it might just be that people feel better because they think they're getting treatment. We can say using a TENS device is linked with feeling less pain, but we can't prove the zapping is what makes the pain go away.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
A wearable TENS device was tested against a fake TENS device in NMOSD patients with nerve pain. Both groups reported less pain after 4 weeks, but the real device worked no better than the fake one.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 573 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1For a patient, this means using a TENS device may reduce pain regardless of whether it's actually working - the hope of treatment helps.
- 2However, there's no additional benefit from real electrical stimulation over a placebo device.
- 3Active TENS reduced pain by 2.2 points; sham reduced pain by 1.3 points.
- 4The 0.87-point difference was not statistically significant (p=0.24).
- 5Both groups used devices ~2.9 hours daily.
- 6No serious side effects.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Multiple Sclerosis Journal - Experimental, Translational and Clinical
Year
2024
Authors
Anastasia Vishnevetsky, Gabriela Romanow, Michael Levy
Related Content
Claims (8)
In a study testing TENS devices for pain, people used the real device and the fake (sham) device for almost exactly the same amount of time—about 2.9 hours daily—so the researchers could rule out that different usage levels explained why both groups had similar pain relief.
A study found that using a TENS machine for nerve pain doesn't work any better than using a fake (sham) TENS machine - the pain relief was basically the same after 4 weeks.
People using real TENS machines and people using fake (sham) TENS machines both reported feeling better after 4 weeks, with similar improvements in their quality of life - but there's no proof that the real TENS actually worked better than the fake one.
A study found that people with a nerve disease called NMOSD who have pain felt less pain after using either a real TENS machine or a fake one for 4 weeks. The real TENS reduced pain by about 2.2 points on a 0-10 scale, while the fake one reduced pain by about 1.3 points.
When people get treatment for pain, sometimes they feel better just because they expect to feel better - not because the treatment actually changed anything in their body.
When people with a nerve disease called NMOSD used TENS machines for pain, both those who got real treatment and those who got fake treatment felt less pain. This tells us that just thinking you're getting treatment can actually help reduce pain.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.