The
pain relieving effect of vibratory stimulation was studied in 731 patients suffering from
acute pain (135 patients) or
chronic pain (596 patients). Most of the patients had previously undergone treatments of various kinds without sufficient
pain relief. The effect of vibratory stimulation was assessed before, during and after stimulation using different rating scales. About 70% of the patients reported reduction of
pain during vibratory stimulation. In many patients there was a clear relation between the degree of reduction of
pain and the intensity of
pain before the beginning of stimulation. In general, relief of
pain by more than 50% during stimulation was obtained in the patients who reported light, light to moderate, or moderate
pain. The patients with moderate to severe, or severe
pain before stimulation generally reported a reduction of
pain of 50% or less. The best
pain reducing site was found to be either the area of
pain or close to it, the antagonistic muscle or a trigger point near the painful area. In most patients suffering from
musculoskeletal pain the best
pain reducing effect was obtained when the vibratory stimulation was applied with moderate pressure (at which contact was achieved with underlying bone) at a frequency of 50-150 Hz. To obtain a maximal duration of
pain relief the stimulation had to be applied for 30-45 minutes. Many of the patients experienced
pain relief lasting for more than 3 hours. It may be noticed that in many patients the
pain relief lasted for 12 hours or more. There was a good correlation between the degree of
pain relief and its duration. In the patients who experienced a
pain reduction of 50% or less the
pain relief generally lasted for less than 6 hours while in the patients who experienced
pain relief of more than 50% it lasted for more than 6 hours. In comparison with high or low frequency
TENS, vibratory stimulation was found to be as effective and in some patients even more effective in reducing chronic musculoskeletal or
orofacial pain. The effect of 20 Hz, 100 Hz and 200 Hz vibratory stimulation, high frequency
TENS, low frequency
TENS and "placebo" vibratory stimulation was examined in various chronic
musculoskeletal pain syndromes. 82% of the patients experienced a relief of
pain with any of the above mentioned methods; 47% of the patients experienced a reduction of
pain with vibratory stimulation or
TENS stimulation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)