Chronic Pain Intervention Using Pulsed Shortwave Therapy: The Relationship Between Pain Demographics and Central Sensitization Inventory

Abstract

Aim: The central sensitization inventory (CSI) is a validated, patient-reported questionnaire that quantifies symptoms of hypersensitivity disorders such as chronic pain, for which central sensitization (CS) may be the etiology. Objective: To investigate the analgesic effectiveness of ActiPatch and analyze the relationship between baseline CSI scores and demographics of chronic pain sufferers. Methods: Upon completing a 7-day ActiPatch trial, baseline CSI scores along with other assessment measures were obtained via e-mail from 174 chronic pain sufferers. Conclusion: CSI scores were positively correlated with gender (higher for women), baseline visual analog scale scores and pain duration. ActiPatch was found to be effective in reducing baseline pain for all subjects by an average of 4.3 visual analog scale points.

Pulsed Shortwave Therapy in Cervical Osteoarthritis: An NSAID- Controlled, Randomized Clinical Trial

“…As a result, there is growing interest in the medical community to deploy non-pharmacological interventions such as medical devices for managing chronic pain [25] This is the rst study we are aware of that investigated PSWT as a primary treatment for a chronic disease state against another rst-line treatment. Prior clinical studies have investigated the effectiveness of PSWT as part of multimodal therapies, both in randomized, placebo-controlled trials (RCT) and large registry studies [31,33,34,39]. Notably, in a four week RCT on knee osteoarthritis where patients continued the use of prescribed NSAIDS (as needed), 26% discontinued NSAID use in the PSWT arm compared to 3% in the placebo control arm [29].…”

“…Notably, in a four week RCT on knee osteoarthritis where patients continued the use of prescribed NSAIDS (as needed), 26% discontinued NSAID use in the PSWT arm compared to 3% in the placebo control arm [29]. Chronic pain patients (varying etiologies) who used PSWT as an adjunct therapy reported in three different registry studies a decreased reliance on pharmacotherapy within 7 days of using the intervention [31,33,34], and also in a prospective study of six months duration (37).…”

“…Pulsed Shortwave Therapy (PSWT) is a non-invasive therapy which relies on tissue exposure to high-frequency, nonthermal electromagnetic energy [26] with the goal of providing analgesia from acute postoperative pain [27,28] and chronic pain [29][30][31][32][33][34]. With regards to osteoarthritis, PSWT has been demonstrated to reduce pain and thereby improve physical functionality and the need for additional pharmacotherapy including NSAIDs [29].…”

A Prospective Six-Month Study of Chronic Pain Sufferers: A Novel OTC Neuromodulation Therapy

“…It is also compatible with clinical evidence showing that PSWT stimulation increases proximal and distal pain tolerance thresholds in subjects with knee osteoarthritis [24] and is consistent with the premise that mitigation of nerve hypersensitivity plays a critical role in treating chronic, intractable pain. Additionally, PSWT treatment has also been shown to reduce pain for patients presenting with various levels of nerve hypersensitivity (central sensitization), as measured by a standardized, central sensitization inventory assessment (CSI) [33–35], an evaluation tool developed to determine the extent of CS in chronic pain patients [34, 35].…”

Pulsed Shortwave Therapy in Cervical Osteoarthritis: an NSAID- Controlled, Randomized Clinical Trial

“…Pulsed shortwave therapy (PSWT) is a non-invasive therapy which relies on tissue exposure to high-frequency, nonthermal electromagnetic energy [25] with the goal of providing analgesia for both acute postoperative [26,27] and chronic pain [28][29][30][31][32][33]. With regard to osteoarthritis, PSWT has been demonstrated to reduce pain, improve physical functionality, and reduce the need for pharmacotherapy [28].…”