Low back pain is the most common cause of short-term inability to work and carry out normal daily activities. As we spend more and more time in front of our desktop computers, laptops, and notebooks, becoming a true civilization disease on the increase. Our back, shoulders, and neck suffer a lot from maintaining this rigid & unnatural posture. Not only does the resulting disability lead to reduced productivity and thus our considerable economic losses, but it can also lead to chronic neurologic complications affecting the lower limbs and internal muscles, such as esophageal, gastric, and urinary tract sphincters.
Physiological mechanisms of vibration analgesia[1] in low back pain are based on peripheral stimulation induced analgesia and relaxing effects of mechanical vibration on muscles in the treated area[2]
According to the gate control theory of pain [3] and [4] From the gate to the neuromatrix, the strength of synaptic transmission at the dorsal horn and, similarly, at the trigeminal ganglia junctions is decreased, probably by presynaptic inhibition, when large, non-pain-signaling axons within the nerve are stimulated (causing the gate to "close").
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VIBRATORY ANALGESIA, basic physiological mechanism
The method has been extensively tested in Prague [5] and Brno [6] hospitals, leading medical research & treatment institutions in the Czech Republic and the European Union alike, involving round 50 low back pain sufferers with results confirming that vibratory analgesia of low back compares or is even slightly better than the conventional TENS method or application of local antiflogistic ointments in combination with medium strength painkillers like tramadol or NSAID.
References
edit- ^ Lundeberg T. The pain suppressive effect of vibratory stimulation and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) as compared to aspirin. Brain Res. 1984 Mar 5;294(2):201-9. PubMed
- ^ Lundeberg T. Vibratory stimulation for the alleviation of pain. Am J Chin Med 1984; 12:60–70.
- ^ Melzack R, Wall PD. Pain mechanisms: a new theory. Science 1965; 150:971–979 PubMed
- ^ Melzack R. From the gate to the neuromatrix. Pain. 1999 PubMed
- ^ MUDr Jiří Kozák, PhD, Prague, Head of Pain Treatment and Research Center at the Medical Faculty of Charles University Motol Hospital in Prague
- ^ Doc MUDr Lubomír Hakl, CSc, Medical Deputy Director of the Medical Faculty Hospital in Brno, the second largest hospital in the Czech Republic, specializing in pain research and treatment for twenty years