"People with chronic low back pain who seek relief with transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation or TENS are wasting their time and money, according to a report published today...Still think they have any idea what is going on?
According to the new TENS practice guideline -- issued by the American Academy of Neurology and published in the academy's journal Neurology -- TENS is "ineffective" for the treatment of chronic low back pain but is "probably effective" in reducing pain from diabetic neuropathy.
Research on TENS for chronic low back pain has yielded conflicting results. The new guideline stems from a comprehensive review of the scientific literature."
Fitness Watch is your site for making sense of fitness advice.
"Truth" has a shelf life.
The shelf life of "truth" is very short in the domains of fitness, health and well-being.
The reason is that so much of what we are told is "true" is really baseless.
At Fitness Watch we separate fitness information from fitness noise.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Nerve stimulation ineffective for low back pain
Another medical "truth" bites the dust.
TENS and other types of back pain relievers such as prescription drugs simply mask the symptons and ignore the root cause of the pain.
ReplyDeleteOver 80% of LBP (low back pain) is the result of your spinal discs drying out and getting thinner, due to a combination of the aging process and gravity.
In order to rehydrate those discs you need to stretch out (decompress) your spine, which also relieves the pressure on the spinal nerves.
Inversion tables, where you hang upside down, can be effective, however most people can’t handle hanging upside down for very long.
There is a new home-use spinal decompression treatment called ‘Spinal Stretch,’ which weighs just 4 lbs and has world-renowned spine surgeons endorsing it.
And here’s some more LBP advice that you won’t hear from most MD’s— to keep your discs properly hydrated you need to drink plenty of WATER.
Best of luck and happy new year!
Hello, Kerry Welsh, and welcome to Fitness Watch.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments.
Can't say that I agree with them, though.
If you have any independent data (e.g., not from a product vendor), please post it here for other Fitness Watch readers.
Thanks, again, for visiting and posting.
Happy, healthy New Year to you!
Michael