Effect of TENS on Post-operative Sternal Pain (Post Cardiac Surgery): A Narrative Review

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation TENS is a modality that blocks the pain by pain gate mechanism and is documented to be safe and effective. Sternum pain signifies the pain in the thoracic cavity that contains the sternum and the cartilage connecting it to the ribs. Patients who experience pain after any cardiac surgery may also experience prolonged immobilization insufficient respiratory functions and the inability to cough as a result of the surgical procedure specifically post median sternotomy. TENS has been shown to be effective in acute and chronic pain in both medical and surgical conditions in multiple studies conducted since 1970. This review was conducted to document the effectiveness and also the parameters of TENS used post Coronary Artery Bypass Graft CABG to relieve pain and improve parameters like functional capacity cardiopulmonary endurance length of hospital stay etc. The review concluded that many studies documented the effectiveness in post-operative CABG patients however some studies stated that it was less effective than other forms of pain relief. The parameters of TENS used in all the randomised control trials have been documented in the results.The clinical application of this review is that TENS can be used as an adjunct treatment in post-operative sternal pain patients on an inpatient and outpatient basis which will be working on other parameters functional capacity cardiopulmonary endurance length of hospital stay apart from pain relief and eventually helps in improving the quality of life of the patients.