2026-09-21T07:29:51Zhttps://dora.dmu.ac.uk/server/oai/requestoai:dora.dmu.ac.uk:2086/192492023-10-18T02:04:37Zcom_2086_2388col_2086_2389
Electroanalgesia: Historical and Contemporary Developments
Gadsby, Joseph Gordon
Aims and Objectives: This thesis makes an in-depth examination
of the historical, including the eighteenth-century pioneering electrical
treatments of the Rev John Wesley, together with contemporary developments
in electroanalgesia from the late twentieth-century, including
the author's own pilot study, in order to provide a sound, scientific
basis for their continuing use.
The problem and the hypothesis: Controversy still surrounds
the effectiveness of electrical treatments, even after 250 years of application.
This is seen in its most researched form as TENS (transcutaneous
electrical nerve stimulation) and ALTENS (acupuncture-like
transcu taneous electrical nerve stimulation) for chronic back pain.
The empirical research making up the main part of the thesis sets out
to provide clear evidence to reject the null hypothesis, i.e. that there
are no significant clinical effects from the use of electrical treatments
for chronic back pain.
Methods and findings: The empirical tertiary research centred on
a systematic review and meta-analysis, within the framework of the
Cochrane Collaboration, of all randomised controlled trials of TENS/
ALTENS for chronic back pain found during rigorous searches of the
medical literature. Pooling their results in a meta-analysis established
that effective clinical benefits are to be found in the use of
ALTENS/TENS for chronic back pain, at least in the short term.
Conclusions and recommendations: This wide ranging PhD
thesis demonstrates for the first time significant clinical benefits of
TENS/ ALTENS for treating patients with chronic back pain and if implemented
on a global basis, then considerable numbers of chronic
back pain sufferers could benefit.
De Montfort University
1998
Thesis or dissertation
Doctoral
PhD
en
https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/handle/2086/19249
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Department of Biological Sciences, School of Applied Sciences