Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in the treatment of pelvic pain caused by the primary dysmenorrhea

Abstract

Introduction: Dysmenorrhea causes the removal of women to work, study and daily life activities. Objectives: To verify the influence of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) in the pelvic pain caused by primary dysmenorrhea. Methods: Twenty university were randomly assigned into two equal groups of ten volunteers: Group Treatment (GT) and control group (GC). They were subjected to a treatment with TENS (GT) and placebo TENS (GC) and evaluated by the Visual Analog Pain Scale (EVA) before, after and two hours after the end of treatment. Results: There was reduction of pain in GT (p = 0,0001) after treatment with maintaining two hours after its end (p = 0,0008). In the GC, although there was a reduction in pain symptoms after treatment (p = 0,0295), this was not maintained two hours after the end of the same (p = 0,4810). Conclusion: TENS was effective in reducing pain of the participants.