Comparison of the Efficacy of Different Electrode Types of Interferential Current Therapy in the Treatment of Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Single-Blinded Study

Abstract

Objective: Interferential current therapy (IFT) is one of the physical treatment modalities that has analgesic effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of IFT on pain, disability, and quality of life (QoL) in patients with chronic low back pain (LBP) and to compare the advantages of IFT with vacuum electrodes and carbon silicon pad electrodes. Material and Methods: One hundred patients with LBP were randomized into three groups. Group 1 received IFT with vacuum electrodes, group 2 received IFT with carbon silicon pad electrodes and group 3 received no IFT therapy. Patients were evaluated three times: Before treatment, one week after treatment, and twelve weeks after treatment. Pain was assessed using a visual analogue scale (VAS), disability with the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and QoL with the Short Form-36 (SF-36). Results: Group 1 and 2 demonstrated a statistically significant reduction of pain, disability and QoL scores as compared with pretreatment. In group 3, there was no statistically significant improvement of VAS, ODI, and SF-36 scores. Intergroup analysis demonstrated that the greatest analgesic and functional effects was recorded in group 1, which were statistically significant better results than in group 2 and group 3. Conclusion: Treatment using IFT with vacuum electrodes resulted in a significantly greater and clinically meaningful reduction in VAS, ODI, and SF-36 scores than using IFT with carbon silicon pad electrodes in patients with LBP.