Short-term effects of tens in the conservative management of unoperated rotator cuff lesions

Background: The purpose of the study is to assess the short-term contribution of TENS-type electrotherapy in the event of non-operated rotator cuff lesions, in terms of pain, joints and muscles in order to confirm or deny the effectiveness of the technique. The results of the study will thus contribute to the increased use of physiotherapy techniques used in the conservative treatment of this type of lesion. Methods: This is a double-blind, randomized controlled clinical trial carried out at the level of the P43 rheumatology department of the Ibn Rochd University Hospital in Casablanca. The study population is 30 patients suffering from unoperated rotator cuff lesions divided into two series: Series A, group in which patients benefit from the application of TENS in addition to the physiotherapy treatment of reference and Series B, reference group; for a period of six sessions. The Constant Scapular Assessment score is the assessment tool used at the start and end of treatment. The sample size calculation was set based on Student's tests with an alpha cutoff of 0.05, a power of 0.90, a mean difference of 10, and a standard deviation of 8 for both groups. For comparison of the differences in scores between the two series, the Mann-Whitney nonparametric comparison test (One-tailed) was used. The size of the Cohen (1992) effect was also calculated for all conducted comparison results. Results: The study demonstrated a difference between the total measured scores using the SCM with a superiority of the TENS group (A) three times that of the reference group (B) (4.933 versus 18.933). The results of the Mann- Whitney test (Unilateral) show a statistically significant difference at the level of 1% (N Reference = 15, N TENS = 15, U = 25, Z = -4.157, P = 0.000). The magnitude of this difference is 0.724, which indicates the positive contribution of this technique on all the parameters measured.