TY - JOUR
T1 - TENS and heat therapy for pain relief and quality of life improvement in individuals with primary dysmenorrhea: a systematic review
AU - Igwea, Sylvester Emeka
AU - Tabansi-Ochuogu, Chidinma Samantha
AU - Abaraogu, Ukachukwu Okoroafor
N1 - Acceptance from webpage
AAM requested ET 19/12/19
PY - 2016/8
Y1 - 2016/8
N2 - The present systematic review aimed to synthesize evidence for the effectiveness of TENS and heat therapy interventions from randomized trials. Six relevant databases were searched for studies on TENS and heat therapy for primary dysmenorrhea. Menstrual pain intensity and quality of life were the primary and secondary outcomes respectively. The search yielded 46 citations from which six studies on TENS and three studies on heat therapy were systematically reviewed. On the PEDRO quality scale, the trials methodological quality was 4.8 out of 10 for TENS and 6.3 out of 10 for heat therapy. TENS and heat therapy both showed evidence of pain reduction, but no study included quality of life as an outcome. Meta-analysis was not possible due to substantial heterogeneity in included studies. TENS and heat therapy show potential as adjunct remedies in the management of primary dysmenorrhea, but rigorous high quality trials are still needed to made conclusive recommendation.
AB - The present systematic review aimed to synthesize evidence for the effectiveness of TENS and heat therapy interventions from randomized trials. Six relevant databases were searched for studies on TENS and heat therapy for primary dysmenorrhea. Menstrual pain intensity and quality of life were the primary and secondary outcomes respectively. The search yielded 46 citations from which six studies on TENS and three studies on heat therapy were systematically reviewed. On the PEDRO quality scale, the trials methodological quality was 4.8 out of 10 for TENS and 6.3 out of 10 for heat therapy. TENS and heat therapy both showed evidence of pain reduction, but no study included quality of life as an outcome. Meta-analysis was not possible due to substantial heterogeneity in included studies. TENS and heat therapy show potential as adjunct remedies in the management of primary dysmenorrhea, but rigorous high quality trials are still needed to made conclusive recommendation.
KW - dysmenorrhea/therapy
KW - female
KW - hot temperature
KW - humans
KW - pain management/methods
KW - quality of life
KW - transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation
U2 - 10.1016/j.ctcp.2016.05.001
DO - 10.1016/j.ctcp.2016.05.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 27502806
VL - 24
SP - 86
EP - 91
JO - Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice
JF - Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice
SN - 1744-3881
ER -