A randomized controlled trial comparing three alternative and complementary health practices for the treatment of chronic pain

Chronic pain affects nearly 116 million American adults at an estimated cost of up to $635 billion per year in terms of lost work days and healthcare expenditures.  Pain contributes substantially to morbidity, mortality, disability, demands on the health care system and significant economic burdens for the nation.  Currently available treatments have limited effectiveness for most people with severe chronic pain.  We conducted a 3-armed randomized controlled trial to compare the Tennant Biomodulator with Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) and Traditional Chinese Acupuncture for the management of chronic pain among injured service members (n=98) at a large Military Treatment Facility. The primary outcome was change in pain ratings over the 6-week treatment period. Secondary outcomes included quality of sleep, depression, heart rate, and PTSD symptoms. Data were collected at intake, before and after each treatment session, and again at a 1-month follow-up. Results indicate improvements in pain scores over time for all three groups (p<0.0001) and a statistically significant treatment by time interaction effect for pain as measured by the Million Visual Analog Scale (MVAS) (p = 0.0259) indicating that some treatments were better than others for managing pain. Results also indicate a significant treatment by time interaction for heart rate (p = 0.0399) as measured before each treatment session. This study evaluated the effectiveness of non-traditional therapies on pain reduction and co-morbid symptoms. The results suggest non-pharmacological therapies may decrease symptoms of chronic pain and the presentation will address which modalities were more effective in chronic pain management.