EFFECT OF HIGH TENS ON NEUROPATHIC PAIN IN DIABETIC NEUROPATHY PATIENTS

Background: Diabetic Neuropathy is a condition that damages nerve in the body. High blood sugar levels affect the way nerves use glucose leading to an accumulation of sugar SORBITOL as depletion of substance called MYOINOSITOL with in nerves, contributing to nerve damage. Historically De calvi first showed the relationship between diabetes and peripheral nerve damage. Diabetes Mellitus is predicted to afflict 220 Million people worldwide by the year 2010, and approximately 30-60% of patients with Diabetes develop long-term of peripheral neuropathy and upto 10 to 20% of these patients experience pain. Pirart8, showed the incidence of Diabetic Neuropathy to be 7.5% at the time of diagnosis with a 1.7% annual increase. [International Diabetes Federation]. Method: Thirty subjects were divided equally 2 groups each containing subjects Group A were given TENS, (mean age 53.2, while group B was given placebo TENS mean age of 50.8 and Visual Analog Scale [VAS] scores > 5 were calculated and data collected for all the subjects prior to the treatment and after the treatment intervention. Wilcoxon method was used for analysis. Results: The Experimental group (N=15) used TENS, the mean of Pre-treatment VAS Score is 8.46 and Post-treatment VAS Score is 2.6 and statistically when observed by using the Wilcoxon signed ranks test the obtained T Value =7 and it shows a significant. Discussion: There are 2 potential mechanisms by which High ? Frequency TENS can relieve the pain of diabetic neuropathy. It is possible that TENS alleviates pain by directly blocking abnormal spontaneous activity in small diameter pain mediating peripheral nerves. This mechanism requires electrical stimulation to be applied directly to spontaneously active nerve. In addition TENS can relieve the pain of diabetic neuropathy by altering nociceptive transmission in the dorsal horn of spinal cord. The second mechanism requires that stimulation be delivered to spinal cord segments that innervate the painful area. Conclusion: TENS has shown a significant improvement on neuropathic pain in diabetic neuropathy patients when compare to the Placebo TENS and hence alternate Hypothesis is accepted Null Hypothesis is rejected.