Effect of adding interferential current stimulation to exercise on outcomes in primary care patients with chronic...

To evaluate the effect of adding interferential current stimulation to exercise on pain, disability, psychological status and range of motion in patients with neck pain.

A single-blinded randomized controlled trial.

Primary care physiotherapy units.

A total of 84 patients diagnosed with non-specific mechanical neck pain. This sample was divided into two groups randomly: experimental (n = 42) versus control group (n = 42).

Patients in both groups had a supervised therapeutic exercise programme, with the experimental group having additional interferential current stimulation treatment.

The main measures used were intensity of neck pain according to the Visual Analogue Scale; the degree of disability according to the Neck Disability Index and the CORE Outcome Measure; anxiety and depression levels according to the Goldberg scale; apprehension as measured by the Personal Psychological Apprehension scale; and the range of motion of the cervical spine. The sample was evaluated at baseline and posttreatment (10 sessions/two weeks).

Statistically significant differences between groups at posttreatment were observed for Visual Analogue Scale (2.73 ± 1.24 vs 4.99 ± 1.56), Neck Disability Index scores (10.60 ± 4.77 vs 18.45 ± 9.04), CORE Outcome Measure scores (19.18 ± 9.99 vs 35.12 ± 13.36), Goldberg total score (6.17 ± 4.27 vs 7.90 ± 4.87), Goldberg Anxiety subscale, Personal Psychological Apprehension Scale scores (28.17 ± 9.61 vs 26.29 ± 11.14) and active and passive right rotation.

Adding interferential current stimulation to exercise resulted in better immediate outcome across a range of measures.