Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a nonpharmacologic treatment for pain relief. TENS has been used to treat a variety of painful conditions. This review updates the basic and clinical science regarding the use of TENS that has been published in the past 3 years (ie, 2005-2008). Basic science studies using animal models of inflammation show changes in the peripheral nervous system, as well as in the spinal cord and descending inhibitory pathways, in response to TENS. Translational studies show mechanisms to prevent analgesic tolerance to repeated application of TENS. This review also highlights data from recent randomized, placebo-controlled trials and current systematic reviews. Clinical trials suggest that adequate dosing, particularly intensity, is critical to obtaining pain relief with TENS. Thus, evidence continues to emerge from both basic science and clinical trials supporting the use of TENS for the treatment of a variety of painful conditions while identifying strategies to increase TENS effectiveness.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 96. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 06 October 2026.
All research outputs
#529,057
of 31,978,644 outputs
Outputs from Current Rheumatology Reports
#12
of 897 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#1,543
of 232,455 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Current Rheumatology Reports
#1
of 8 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 31,978,644 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 897 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 9.4. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 232,455 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 8 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than all of them
