Immediate and 1-week Efficacy of a Single Session of Sciatic Nerve Electrical Stimulation in the Management of Low-back Related Leg Pain
Study Overview
Status
Status
Conditions
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Intervention / Treatment
- Procedure: Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation
- Procedure: Placebo Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation
- Procedure: Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation
- Procedure: Placebo Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation
- Procedure: Real Dry Needling (without Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation)
Study Type
Study Type
Enrollment (Estimated)
Enrollment
Phase
Phase
- Not Applicable
Contacts and Locations
Study Locations
-
-
Madrid
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Madrid, Madrid, Spain, 28041
- Recruiting
- Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre
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Contact:
- Gabriel R Rabanal-Rodríguez
- Phone Number: 0034 91 394 15 24
- Email: grabanal@ucm.es
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-
Participation Criteria
Eligibility Criteria
Eligibility Criteria
Ages Eligible for Study
- Adult
- Older Adult
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- Neuropathic-like LBRLP (sciatica).
- S-LANSS score ≥ 12 points.
- LBRLP lasting more than 6 months.
- Age between 18 and 70 years.
- LBRLP in the past 4 weeks has been severe enough to limit usual activities or change daily routines for more than 1 day.
- At least one period of 6 months to 1 year during which the participant did not go a full month without LBRLP.
- LBRLP intensity of at least 3/10 on the NPRS.
- Ability to provide informed consent.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Acute injury or recent major trauma history.
- Relevant painful conditions of the hip joint or pelvic/sacroiliac region.
- Symptoms compatible with cauda equina syndrome (loss of bladder/bowel control, sexual dysfunction, paralysis of lower limbs, etc.).
- Previous surgery on the spine, pelvis or hip.
- Prior treatment with anesthetic or anti-inflammatory blocks or with radiofrequency (facet, sacroiliac, radicular, epidural, etc.) in the past two years.
- Any neurological or systemic disease that could limit participation in the study.
- Inability to communicate in Spanish or understand study instructions and content.
- General contraindications for invasive physiotherapy and electrotherapy techniques.
Study Plan
How is the study designed?
Design Details
- Primary Purpose: Treatment
- Allocation: Randomized
- Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
- Masking: Triple
Number of Arms
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / ArmParticipant Group / Arm |
Intervention / TreatmentIntervention / Treatment |
|---|---|
|
Placebo Comparator: Placebo PENS + Placebo TENS
Participants will receive only sham interventions.
Placebo PENS will be simulated with Streitberger needles (skin contact without penetration) and cable placement, and placebo TENS with adhesive electrodes connected to a disabled channel.
Participants will be informed that current is below the sensory threshold.
The procedure will last 30 minutes.
|
Adhesive electrodes will be placed near the intervention site (sciatic nerve between the subgluteal fold and the distal third of the thigh) but connected to a disabled channel to simulate placebo TENS.
Other Names:
A sham ultrasound-guided dry needling procedure will be performed using Streitberger placebo needles, which contact the skin superficially without penetration.
Cables for PENS will be placed on the skin but connected to a disabled channel to simulate placebo PENS.
Other Names:
|
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Experimental: Real PENS + Placebo TENS
Participants will receive real ultrasound-guided dry needle insertion (0.30 mm × 60 mm and 0.30 mm ×50 mm) to the perineural region adjacent to the sciatic nerve at both the subgluteal fold and the posterior thigh (junction between the middle and distal thirds).
Electrical stimulation will be applied using the Endomed 484® electrotherapy unit (PRIM Physio, Madrid, Spain) in continuous biphasic mode at low frequency (2 Hz), 250 μs pulse width for 30 minutes.
Intensity will be adjusted to elicit a visible, mild muscle contraction.
Simultaneously, adhesive electrodes will be placed near the intervention site but connected to a disabled channel to simulate placebo TENS.
|
Participants will receive real ultrasound-guided dry needle insertion (0.30 mm × 60 mm and 0.30 mm ×50 mm) to the perineural region adjacent to the sciatic nerve at both the subgluteal fold and the posterior thigh (junction between the middle and distal thirds).
Electrical stimulation will be applied using the Endomed 484® electrotherapy unit (PRIM Physio, Madrid, Spain) in continuous biphasic mode at low frequency (2 Hz), 250 μs pulse width for 30 minutes.
Intensity will be adjusted to elicit a visible, mild muscle contraction.
Other Names:
Adhesive electrodes will be placed near the intervention site (sciatic nerve between the subgluteal fold and the distal third of the thigh) but connected to a disabled channel to simulate placebo TENS.
Other Names:
|
|
Active Comparator: Real TENS + Placebo PENS
Participants will receive real superficial electrical stimulation via adhesive electrodes connected to the Endomed 484® unit, configured for TENS (non-invasive).
Parameters will match those from Group 1 (continuous biphasic current, 2 Hz, 250 μs, 30 min), producing a clear sensory perception and mild muscle contraction.
Simultaneously, a sham ultrasound-guided dry needling procedure will be performed using Streitberger placebo needles, which contact the skin superficially without penetration.
Cables for PENS will be placed on the skin but connected to a disabled channel to simulate placebo PENS.
|
Participants will receive real superficial electrical stimulation via adhesive electrodes connected to the Endomed 484® unit, configured for TENS (non-invasive).
Parameters will include continuous biphasic current, 2 Hz, 250 μs, 30 min, producing a clear sensory perception and mild muscle contraction.
Other Names:
A sham ultrasound-guided dry needling procedure will be performed using Streitberger placebo needles, which contact the skin superficially without penetration.
Cables for PENS will be placed on the skin but connected to a disabled channel to simulate placebo PENS.
Other Names:
|
|
Active Comparator: Real Dry Needling (without PENS) + Placebo TENS
Participants will receive real ultrasound-guided dry needling as in Group 1 but without electrical stimulation.
The needles will remain in place for 30 minutes, with the PENS channel disabled to act as placebo.
Simultaneously, adhesive electrodes will be placed as in Group 1, with TENS channels disabled.
Participants will be told the current is below the sensory threshold.
The design of this intervention group aims to determine whether the therapeutic effects observed with the PENS technique are exclusively due to needle insertion (dry needling) or whether the passage of electrical current through the needle (as in Group 1) plays a decisive role in the outcomes obtained.
To this end, real ultrasound-guided dry needling is applied at the same anatomical locations, but without activation of the electrical stimulation channel, the latter acting as a placebo.
This comparison will allow the specific effect of electrical stimulation to be isolated within the context of the intervention.
|
Adhesive electrodes will be placed near the intervention site (sciatic nerve between the subgluteal fold and the distal third of the thigh) but connected to a disabled channel to simulate placebo TENS.
Other Names:
Participants will receive real ultrasound-guided dry needling but without electrical stimulation.
The needles will remain in place for 30 minutes, with the PENS channel disabled to act as placebo.
Other Names:
|
What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Pain intensity
Time Frame: Baseline, immediately after the intervention and 1 week post-intervention.
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Pain intensity will be assessed using the NPRS, a single 11-point numerical rating scale widely validated across different patient populations, where 0 represents no pain and 10 represents the worst possible pain.
Data obtained through the NPRS are easy to document, intuitively interpretable and meet regulatory requirements for pain assessment and documentation.
The NPRS has been shown to be reliable in assessing LBP intensity, also predicting the degree of disability in these patients.
A change of 2 points on the NPRS has been considered to reflect the MCID in patients with LBP, indicating that any change equal to or greater than this value can be considered clinically relevant.
However, the MCID has not yet been established in patients with LBRLP and neuropathic characteristics; therefore, a variation of 2 points will be used as a reference value, as in patients with LBP and those with chronic pain in general.
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Baseline, immediately after the intervention and 1 week post-intervention.
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Secondary Outcome Measures
Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
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Adverse events
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of 2 years.
|
Adverse events will be defined as any problem related to the intervention that causes symptoms lasting at least two days or requiring specific treatment.
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Through study completion, an average of 2 years.
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Disability
Time Frame: Baseline and 1 week post-intervention.
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Disability will be assessed using the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), an instrument designed to evaluate the degree of disability associated with acute, subacute and chronic LBP.
The ODI consists of a total of 10 items, one assessing pain and the remaining nine assessing activities of daily living, each rated on a 6-point ordinal scale ranging from the best to the worst scenario (0-5 points).
The scores for each item will be summed to obtain a total between 0 and 50 points, with the following categories: no disability (0-4 points), mild disability (5-14 points), moderate disability (15-24 points), severe disability (25-34 points) and complete disability (35-50 points).
The ODI has been shown to be reliable and valid for assessing disability in patients with LBP and has been validated in Spanish.
The MCID varies across studies; in this case, the smallest reported value (a change of 5 points) will be used as the reference for significant changes.
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Baseline and 1 week post-intervention.
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Health-related quality of life
Time Frame: Baseline and 1 week post-intervention.
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The SF-12 questionnaire, a shortened version of the SF-36, will be used for this assessment.
The SF-12 consists of 12 items that evaluate eight different parameters: physical functioning, role limitations due to physical problems, bodily pain, general health, vitality, social functioning, role limitations due to emotional problems and mental health perception.
The items are combined and transformed to provide both a physical and a mental health score, each ranging from 0 (worst) to 100 (best).
The SF-12 has been shown to be valid and reliable in populations with chronic LBP.
The MCID related to quality of life in patients with LBP has been established as improvements greater than 3.77 points in the mental component and 3.29 points in the physical component.
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Baseline and 1 week post-intervention.
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Neuropathic component of pain
Time Frame: Baseline and 1 week post-intervention.
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This variable will be measured using the S-LANSS pain scale, a self-administered instrument designed to identify patients with pain of neuropathic characteristics.
It is a simple scale consisting of seven items with binary responses (yes or no), relating to the presence of symptoms (five items) or clinical signs (two items).
The maximum possible score is 24 points, with scores equal to or greater than 12 considered clear indicators of the presence of a neuropathic pain component.
The S-LANSS scale has been shown to be reliable for diagnosing pain with neuropathic characteristics and has been validated in Spanish.
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Baseline and 1 week post-intervention.
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Pressure pain threshold
Time Frame: Baseline, immediately after the intervention and 1 week post-intervention.
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To assess PPT a pressure algometer will be used, determining the minimum amount of pressure required for the patient to feel pain.
PPT will be measured at three different points on each side: tibial nerve (posterior aspect of the knee), peroneal nerve (at the level of the fibular head), and the sciatic nerve trunk (gluteal region), repeating each measurement three times and averaging the results.
According to the classification by Shrout and Fleiss, algometry measurement of PPT at the tibial nerve has shown good intra-rater reliability (ICC = 0.64) and acceptable inter-rater reliability (ICC = 0.56) in asymptomatic individuals.
For the peroneal nerve, intra-rater reliability is excellent (ICC = 0.84) and inter-rater reliability is good (ICC = 0.70).
For the sciatic nerve, intra-rater reliability is excellent (ICC = 0.90) and inter-rater reliability is good (ICC = 0.75).
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Baseline, immediately after the intervention and 1 week post-intervention.
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SLR test outcome
Time Frame: Baseline, immediately after the intervention and 1 week post-intervention.
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The test will be performed with the participant in a supine position, passively raising the lower limb by flexing the hip while keeping the knee extended.
A recent meta-analysis has highlighted ongoing concerns regarding its reliability and diagnostic accuracy, suggesting that incorporating structural differentiation movements may improve its performance.
Based on previous research of limited quality, the test has been reported to have high sensitivity and low specificity, although results vary between studies.
Likelihood ratios also differ widely across investigations, with LR+ ranging from 1.07 to 4.73 and LR- from 0.27 to 0.96.
It has been determined that diagnosing radicular pain and radiculopathy in patients with LBRLP, when based solely on history and physical examination, has only slight inter-rater reliability (Kappa 0.35).
In terms of interpretation, the SLR test is considered positive when it elicits familiar symptoms that relieve upon returning to the starting position.
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Baseline, immediately after the intervention and 1 week post-intervention.
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Pain Descriptors: Familiar Symptomatology and Paresthesias
Time Frame: Baseline, immediately after the intervention and 1 week post-intervention.
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Categorical scales will be used to record the extent to which the SLR test reproduces symptomatology recognized by the patient as familiar (not familiar, slightly familiar, considerably familiar or exact reproduction of symptoms) and the severity of any dysesthesias or paresthesias experienced (none, mild-moderate or severe).
This questionnaire has demonstrated moderate to excellent inter-rater reliability (ICC = 0.78-0.96).
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Baseline, immediately after the intervention and 1 week post-intervention.
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Range of motion in hip flexion
Time Frame: Baseline, immediately after the intervention and 1 week post-intervention.
|
Data on the hip flexion ROM achieved during the SLR test will be collected.
The participant will be in a supine position and the hip flexion movement will be recorded using anatomical reference points and assessed using Kinovea, a motion-analysis software.
A previous study using this method reported excellent intra- and inter-rater reliability, with ICCs ranging from 0.985 to 0.999 and a minimal detectable change of 1.3-4° of hip flexion in patients with LBP.
In contrast, a previous meta-analysis concluded that inter-rater reliability for ROM measurement during the SLR test is poor, with variations ranging from 13° to 20º.
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Baseline, immediately after the intervention and 1 week post-intervention.
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Sciatic nerve stiffness
Time Frame: Baseline, immediately after the intervention and 1 week post-intervention.
|
An experienced ultrasound researcher will perform shear wave elastography (SWE) to assess sciatic nerve stiffness using a Logiq P9 XDclear™ system with convex (1-6 MHz) and linear (6-15 MHz) probes.
Exams will be bilateral in the subgluteal fossa, with participants prone, ankle neutral, and knee extended.
The nerve will be identified axially for thickness, width and area, then imaged longitudinally for SWE.
Stable transducer positioning will allow simultaneous B-mode and SWE display.
Stiffness will be expressed in kPa, taking at least three measurements that will be averaged for analysis.
All images will be acquired by the same investigator.
This method shows good reliability (ICC = 0.869), and higher stiffness (≈11.3%) has been observed in affected legs of patients with LBRLP compared to their unaffected side and to healthy controls.
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Baseline, immediately after the intervention and 1 week post-intervention.
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Global perceived improvement
Time Frame: Immediately after the intervention and 1 week post-intervention.
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Global perceived improvement will be measured using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from "much worse" to "much better."
Clinical improvement will be considered in participants who report feeling "moderately better" or "much better".
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Immediately after the intervention and 1 week post-intervention.
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Other Outcome Measures
Other Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Sociodemographic variables
Time Frame: Baseline.
|
Sociodemographic data will be collected using a standardized form in which participants will be required to provide their age, gender, occupation, height, weight, ethnicity, education level, comorbidities, history of sports activity, symptoms in other joints, duration of symptoms and medication use.
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Baseline.
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Collaborators and Investigators
Sponsor
Sponsor
Collaborators
Collaborators
Study record dates
Study Major Dates
Study Start (Actual)
Study Start
Primary Completion (Estimated)
Primary Completion
Study Completion (Estimated)
Study Completion
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
First Submitted
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
First Posted (Actual)
First Posted
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Actual)
Last Update Posted
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
Last Verified
Last Verified
More Information
Terms related to this study
Additional Relevant MeSH Terms
- Pain
- Neurologic Manifestations
- Nervous System Diseases
- Neuromuscular Diseases
- Peripheral Nervous System Diseases
- Neuralgia
- Mononeuropathies
- Sciatic Neuropathy
- Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms
- Signs and Symptoms
- Sciatica
- Therapeutics
- Physical Therapy Modalities
- Rehabilitation
- Anesthesia and Analgesia
- Electric Stimulation Therapy
- Analgesia
- Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation
Other Study ID Numbers
Other Study ID Numbers
- 25/504-E (IMM)
Drug and device information, study documents
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product
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