Cargando…

A survey of the attitudes and beliefs about the use of TENS for pain management by physiotherapists working in two cities in Sri Lanka

INTRODUCTION: Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a noninvasive, inexpensive, self-administered technique used throughout the world to relieve pain. In Sri Lanka, physiotherapists may use TENS for their patients as they receive a small amount of education about the principles and p...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Dissanayaka, Thusharika D, Banerjee, Gourav, Johnson, Mark I
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Dove Medical Press 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4027815/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24868178
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/PROM.S56137
_version_ 1782316996245848064
author Dissanayaka, Thusharika D
Banerjee, Gourav
Johnson, Mark I
author_facet Dissanayaka, Thusharika D
Banerjee, Gourav
Johnson, Mark I
author_sort Dissanayaka, Thusharika D
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a noninvasive, inexpensive, self-administered technique used throughout the world to relieve pain. In Sri Lanka, physiotherapists may use TENS for their patients as they receive a small amount of education about the principles and practice of TENS in their undergraduate training. To date, there have been no data gathered about the use of TENS by physiotherapists in Sri Lanka. The aim of this study was to assess attitudes and beliefs of physiotherapists working in Sri Lanka about their use of TENS for pain management. METHODS: A postal survey was undertaken using a 12-item questionnaire developed by the investigators to gather information about attitudes, beliefs and use of TENS in clinical practice. The questionnaire was distributed to 100 physiotherapists working in three government hospitals and six private hospitals in the cities of Kandy and Colombo. A descriptive analysis of data was performed. RESULTS: Sixty-seven completed questionnaires were returned (67% response rate). Over half of the respondents (58.2%) reported that they used TENS to treat pain “often” or “very often”, with use for musculoskeletal/orthopedic (61.3%) and neuropathic/neuralgic (79.1%) pain being most common. TENS was used less for postsurgical pain and rarely for cancer pain. Most (95.5%) respondents reported that their patients benefitted “considerably” from TENS. 76.1% of the respondents reported that they did not recommend and/or prescribe TENS for patients to use at home. CONCLUSION: Physiotherapists value TENS as a treatment option to manage musculoskeletal and neuropathic pain. However, there is a need for systems and resources to enable to patients to self-administer TENS rather than having to visit clinics.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4027815
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2014
publisher Dove Medical Press
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-40278152014-05-27 A survey of the attitudes and beliefs about the use of TENS for pain management by physiotherapists working in two cities in Sri Lanka Dissanayaka, Thusharika D Banerjee, Gourav Johnson, Mark I Patient Relat Outcome Meas Original Research INTRODUCTION: Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a noninvasive, inexpensive, self-administered technique used throughout the world to relieve pain. In Sri Lanka, physiotherapists may use TENS for their patients as they receive a small amount of education about the principles and practice of TENS in their undergraduate training. To date, there have been no data gathered about the use of TENS by physiotherapists in Sri Lanka. The aim of this study was to assess attitudes and beliefs of physiotherapists working in Sri Lanka about their use of TENS for pain management. METHODS: A postal survey was undertaken using a 12-item questionnaire developed by the investigators to gather information about attitudes, beliefs and use of TENS in clinical practice. The questionnaire was distributed to 100 physiotherapists working in three government hospitals and six private hospitals in the cities of Kandy and Colombo. A descriptive analysis of data was performed. RESULTS: Sixty-seven completed questionnaires were returned (67% response rate). Over half of the respondents (58.2%) reported that they used TENS to treat pain “often” or “very often”, with use for musculoskeletal/orthopedic (61.3%) and neuropathic/neuralgic (79.1%) pain being most common. TENS was used less for postsurgical pain and rarely for cancer pain. Most (95.5%) respondents reported that their patients benefitted “considerably” from TENS. 76.1% of the respondents reported that they did not recommend and/or prescribe TENS for patients to use at home. CONCLUSION: Physiotherapists value TENS as a treatment option to manage musculoskeletal and neuropathic pain. However, there is a need for systems and resources to enable to patients to self-administer TENS rather than having to visit clinics. Dove Medical Press 2014-05-14 /pmc/articles/PMC4027815/ /pubmed/24868178 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/PROM.S56137 Text en © 2014 Dissanayaka et al. This work is published by Dove Medical Press Limited, and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License The full terms of the License are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed.
spellingShingle Original Research
Dissanayaka, Thusharika D
Banerjee, Gourav
Johnson, Mark I
A survey of the attitudes and beliefs about the use of TENS for pain management by physiotherapists working in two cities in Sri Lanka
title A survey of the attitudes and beliefs about the use of TENS for pain management by physiotherapists working in two cities in Sri Lanka
title_full A survey of the attitudes and beliefs about the use of TENS for pain management by physiotherapists working in two cities in Sri Lanka
title_fullStr A survey of the attitudes and beliefs about the use of TENS for pain management by physiotherapists working in two cities in Sri Lanka
title_full_unstemmed A survey of the attitudes and beliefs about the use of TENS for pain management by physiotherapists working in two cities in Sri Lanka
title_short A survey of the attitudes and beliefs about the use of TENS for pain management by physiotherapists working in two cities in Sri Lanka
title_sort survey of the attitudes and beliefs about the use of tens for pain management by physiotherapists working in two cities in sri lanka
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4027815/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24868178
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/PROM.S56137
work_keys_str_mv AT dissanayakathusharikad asurveyoftheattitudesandbeliefsabouttheuseoftensforpainmanagementbyphysiotherapistsworkingintwocitiesinsrilanka
AT banerjeegourav asurveyoftheattitudesandbeliefsabouttheuseoftensforpainmanagementbyphysiotherapistsworkingintwocitiesinsrilanka
AT johnsonmarki asurveyoftheattitudesandbeliefsabouttheuseoftensforpainmanagementbyphysiotherapistsworkingintwocitiesinsrilanka
AT dissanayakathusharikad surveyoftheattitudesandbeliefsabouttheuseoftensforpainmanagementbyphysiotherapistsworkingintwocitiesinsrilanka
AT banerjeegourav surveyoftheattitudesandbeliefsabouttheuseoftensforpainmanagementbyphysiotherapistsworkingintwocitiesinsrilanka
AT johnsonmarki surveyoftheattitudesandbeliefsabouttheuseoftensforpainmanagementbyphysiotherapistsworkingintwocitiesinsrilanka