Potential benefits of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in primary dysmenorrhea: a review

Author: 
Manisha Uttam and Anuradha Lehri

Background: Dysmenorrhea is one of the most common gynecological complaints among adolescent girls and adult females. It is classified as Primary, occurs without any underlying gynecological disease and Secondary, accompanied by some gynecological pathology. Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve stimulation (TENS) is an efficient pain relieving method for treating dysmenorrhea. Aim: The aim of this review is to investigate the potential benefits of high and low frequency TENS in primary dysmenorrhea. Methods: Extensive search of electronic databases from Google scholar, Pubmed, PEDro and Cochrane library were performed between 2010 to 2018 to identify relevant experimental studies. Ten experimental studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria for this review. Results and Conclusion: There are limited studies to determine the effect of low frequency TENS. However, high frequency TENS is effective for pain relief in primary dysmenorrhea. Therefore, there is need of more moderate to high quality experimental studies to affirm the effectiveness of high and low frequency TENS in primary dysmenorrhea.

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DOI: 
http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijcar.2018.16590.3071
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