Pain relief after low back surgery: the efficacy of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) was used for the relief of post-operative pain following low back surgery in a consecutive series of over 157 patients. A comparative study of the use of post-operative narcotic analgesics by 52 of these patients (26 in each of two groups) was made to determine the effectiveness of TENS in relieving post-operative pain. Fifty per cent of the sample used analgesics only; 50% used TENS in addition to analgesics. The data collected included its frequency of post-operative analygesic use, a rank order of analgesic potency, and a post-operative "pain score" derived from the combination of analgesic potency and frequency of use. Data analysis revealed significant differences between the groups in the use of analgesics. TENS decreased the need for narcotics in the relief of post-operative pain following low back surgery, although it is not a replacement for post-operative medication.