Abstract
Twenty-six patients with severe hand infections requiring operative drainage and admission to hospital were entered into a prospective, randomised, placebo-controlled trial. This was to test the use of a functioning transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator and a non-functioning transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator for pain relief in the first three postoperative days. Those patients with a functioning transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator required significantly less analgesia. They also demonstrated highly significant improvement in their range of total active movement over those patients with a non-functioning transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator.
We recommend the use of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator after operation to reduce pain and improve mobility.
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