Skip to content

Relief of Pain in Patients With Cervical Dystonia Through the Use of Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation (TENS)

Relief of Pain in Patients With Cervical Dystonia Through the Use of Sensory Threshold TENS

Status
Completed
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Observational
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04949594
Acronym
TENDYS
Enrollment
40
Registered
2021-07-02
Start date
2019-10-21
Completion date
2020-07-30
Last updated
2021-10-29

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Cervical Dystonia, Pain

Keywords

cervical dystonia, pain, TENS

Brief summary

Dystonia is a chronic neurological condition that impacts the quality of life due to decreased mobility, social repercussions caused by others's perception of abnormal involuntary movement and frequent pain. Botulinum toxin has been shown to be effective in reducing pain in dystonia. However, many patients remain painful despite the injections, especially when the decrease in the effect of the latter, performed every 3 months on average. Despite frequent use of TENS in pain relief, only a few small studies studying TENS in dystonia were published and none of them reported TENS effects on dystonic pain using sensory threshold. This study aimed to quantify the efficacy and tolerance of TENS in the indication of pain related to dystonia, focusing on cervical dystonia which is the most common form of dystonia.

Detailed description

TENDYS (TENs use in cervical DYStonia) is an observational, prospective, single arm, monocentric study including subjects between September 2019 and July 2020 with cervical dystonia treated or not with botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) type A at the Nancy Regional University Hospital. All patients who benefited from a simple follow-up or injections of BoNT every 3 or 4 months for a painful cervical dystonia were proposed the use of TENS during a neurologic consultation with one of two specialist physicians trained to cervical dystonia. Patients who accepted had to give informed consent and were re-evaluated about 1 month later to ensure that pain persisted and to have a demo of TENS. The electro-stimulator was delivered to posterior cervical muscles over or close to the painful site, according to a Conventional or High frequency/Low intensity mode (Gate control). Patients were encouraged to use the machine daily, as often and long and possible, except for sleeping and driving. Follow-up assessments of pain occurred at the consultation toxin injection 3 months later and at 4 months for all patients.

Interventions

DEVICETENS

application on muscles where pain is situated (cervical)

Sponsors

Central Hospital, Nancy, France
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Observational model
ECOLOGIC_OR_COMMUNITY
Time perspective
PROSPECTIVE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 80 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Patient having received complete information on the organization of the research and not having objected to the exploitation of the data * patient admitted to neurology consultation for cervical dystonia treated with botulinum toxin

Exclusion criteria

* Patient under legal protection * Minor patient * Patient refusing to give consent * Patient with exclusive radicular or truncal involvement * Missing data or absence of established reactogenic threshold

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Mean change of Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale (TWSTRS) -Total score3 monthsToronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale (abbreviated TWSTRS) is a mixed clinician and patient rated cervical dystonia-specific scale. TWSTRS total score is scored from 0-85 (best to worst).

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Mean change of Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale (TWSTRS) -Severity, -Disability and -Pain subscores3 monthsThe TWSTRS is comprised of 3 subscales : severity (range 0-35), disability (range 0-30), and pain (range 0-20), each of which is scored independently (best to worst).
Mean change of Pain Numeric Rating Scale score3 monthsPain Numeric Rating Scale (abbreviated PNRS) is ranking 0-10, with 0 meaning No pain and 10 meaning Pain as bad as you can imagine.

Countries

France

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026