Rehabilitation with “Software Controlled Short Tension Impulses Therapy” (So.Co.Short) for Lumbar and Cervical Chronic Radiculopathy

Abstract

Background: Recent studies have highlighted a new use of electrical stimulation called electroceutical therapy that uses electrical stimulation similar to frequency modulated electromagnetic neural stimulation (FREMS) that influence and modify the functions of the body. A pilot study was designed aimed to evaluate the efficacy of "Software Controlled Short Tension Impulses Therapy" (So.Co.Short) in subjects with lumbar and cervical radiculopathy in chronic phase treated with two different protocol one daily or and the other every other day. Furthermore, the second endpoint is monitor analgesic intake for 2 month after the end of protocol. Materials and Methods:60 patients with chronic cervical radiculopathy were included, aged between 31 and 80 years and 70 subjects with chronic lumbar radiculopathy aged between 28 and 80 years. Patients underwent a session, using a newly-developed biomedical device that allows the application of software-controlled electric impulses of variable tension, frequency and duration "Software Controlled Short Tension Impulses Therapy"-(So co.Short) for 10 sessions with two modalities of application: daily or every other day. At the beginning (T0) and the end (T1) of the treatment all patients performed Visual Analogic Scale (VAS), Neck Disability Index (NDI) or Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). A drug diary was kept by each subject to monitor analgesic intake at T0 (before 2 weeks at beginning of study) and 1 month after the end of protocols. Results:Results confirm effectiveness for pain relief and reduction of analgesic intake. Conclusion:In conclusion, the findings of this study confirm that So.Co.Short is safe and leads to pain relief and improvement of healing in lumbar and cervical chronic radiculopathy. Probably the best application is on every other days, because stimulating the production of growth factors and triggering the relief of pain, must leave enough time for the molecules produced to act on the inflammatory process.