Efficacy of Vibrating Gloves for Chronic Hand Pain due to Osteoarthritis

This study investigated the efficacy of vibration technology for women with hand pain due to osteoarthritis (OA) to see if mild compression and small vibrating motors were beneficial with periodic use.

Sixty-nine (N = 69) women with OA hand pain were randomized into two groups, one that used vibrating gloves once a day for 20 minutes (Experimental, N = 34) and one that was monitored for three months without gloves (Control, N = 35). All subjects completed baseline questionnaires, were administered mechanical quantitative sensory testing (QST), and uploaded a smartphone pain app for daily assessment. Patients were included if they had chronic pain for more than three months, reported a 4 or higher on a 0-10 pain intensity scale, and could speak and understand English.

In general, compared with the control subjects, those in the experimental condition demonstrated reduced pain intensity (P < 0.05) after using the vibrating gloves. No differences were found between groups on activity interference, mood, or sleep. No differences were also noted based on age, pain duration, hand dominance, weight, body mass index, or hours sleeping. Those with greater sensitivity on QST demonstrated more disability, emotional distress, and pain catastrophizing (P < 0.05) but no differences in pain relief from or satisfaction with the vibrating gloves.

Overall, the results demonstrated that the vibrating gloves were moderately helpful in reducing hand pain in women with OA (53.5%), and most expressed willingness to use the gloves (71.4%) and use the pain app (55.8%) in the future. Additional studies to determine the mechanism of action of the gloves in managing pain would be recommended.