TENS de alta e baixa frequência para dismenorreia primária: estudo preliminar

Abstract

Introduction: Primary dysmenorrhea is defined as menstrual pain without associated pathologies. Objective: To evaluate the effect of high and low frequency of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) in the pain reduction in women with primary dysmenorrhea. Methods: Preliminary clinical trial, randomized, controlled and double blind was conducted with 15 volunteers with primary dysmenorrhea who were divided into three groups: high frequency TENS (HFT), low frequency TENS (LFT) and placebo TENS (PT). In the evaluation of pain and limitation in daily activities was used the numeric rating scale. The assessment of pain was done before and after application of TENS, which lasted 30 minutes. It was used nonparametric statistics tests. The level of significance was p<0.05. Results: Relief of pain in the HFT and LFT groups was identified after intragroup analysis, and in the PT group no difference was observed. Conclusions: The HFT and LFT were effective for the pain relief in primary dysmenorrhea, being easy to use, comfortable and without side effects