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Correspondence to Author: Johannah B. Sabio¹ Pretzel K. Zuñiga²,PhD. 

1. PT Department, Student, Adventist Medical Center College, Iligan City, Philippines.
2. PT Department, Associate Professor, Adventist Medical Center College, Iligan City, Philippines.

DOI: 10.52338/Appr.2025.4531

Abstract:

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator (TENS) has been known to alleviate muscle soreness, tightness, and spasms with concurrent pain. Physiologically, it enhances muscle blood flow during exercise and provides temporary analgesia. Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), which generally occurs 24 to 72 hours after a vigorous unaccustomed activity may limit optimum physical function. There is a limited resource to prevent its occurrence. In the present study, TENS was applied before and after an endurance exercise to determine its effectiveness as prophylaxis against DOMS in quadriceps and gastrocnemius muscles. Sixty participants were assigned randomly into 4 groups (negative control, positive control, experimental 1, and experimental 2) and performed 3 sets of preselected endurance exercises with 2-minute rest interval. The experimental groups received TENS (MH6200, Taiwan) for 20 minutes with predetermined parameters. Data gathering immediately started in subsequent hours after the exercises and reported as onset of pain, duration of pain, and pain intensity recorded using the Numerical Pain Rating Scale (NPRS). Results show that the application of TENS did not prevent the onset of DOMS. However, it lessened the perceived pain intensity (p value – 0.0000), delayed the onset of pain (p value – 0.0016) with significantly reduced pain duration (p value – 0.0000). Interestingly, 43% of the participants in the experimental groups reported that pain was perceived in only one of the two muscles, mainly in the calf area. This study is largely influenced by the COVID-19 crisis. A similar study with slight modification utilizing a more obstinate process may yield better results.

Keywords:Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator; Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, Analgesia, Prevention, Endurance Exercise

Citation:

Johannah B. Sabio, Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation As Prophylaxis Against Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness Of Quadriceps And Gastrocnemius Muscles. Annals of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation 2025.