What is the efficacy and safety of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for pain relief in adults?
TENS Pain-Relief Unit, a systematic review and meta-analysis in 24,532 participants (BMJ Open 2022, PMID 35144946) — pain intensity was lower during or immediately after TENS compared with placebo (91 RCTs, 4841 participants, SMD=-0.96, moderate-certainty evidence). The certainty of evidence was downgraded due to small-sized trials contributing to imprecision in magnitude estimates.
Source: BMJ Open 2022, PMID 35144946 ↗ · Research map · How Magellan grades evidence · evidence confidence: high
BMJ Open · 2022 · PMID 35144946 · DOI 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-051073
TENS effectively reduces pain intensity compared to placebo with generally mild side effects.
The question
What is the efficacy and safety of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for pain relief in adults?
What they tested
The study implicitly hypothesizes that TENS is effective and safe for pain relief in adults compared to placebo or other treatments.
How they did it
This systematic review and meta-analysis included 381 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with 24,532 participants. Reviewers independently screened, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias and certainty of evidence. Random effect models were used to calculate standardized mean differences (SMD) and risk ratios for mean pain intensity and proportions of participants achieving pain reductions (≥30% or ≥50%) during or immediately after TENS.
What they found
Pain intensity was lower during or immediately after TENS compared with placebo (91 RCTs, 4841 participants, SMD=-0.96, moderate-certainty evidence). This effect was not modified by methodological or pain characteristics. Pain intensity was also lower during or immediately after TENS compared with pharmacological and non-pharmacological standard care treatments (61 RCTs, 3155 participants, SMD=-0.72, low-certainty evidence). Adverse events were poorly reported but generally mild and similar to comparators.
| TENS vs Placebo | -0.96 | |
|---|---|---|
| TENS vs Other Treatments | -0.72 |
Standardized Mean Difference (SMD) in pain intensity during or immediately after TENS compared to placebo or other treatments.
What it means
There is moderate-certainty evidence that pain intensity is lower during or immediately after TENS compared with placebo, and TENS is not associated with serious adverse events.
Limitations
The certainty of evidence was downgraded due to small-sized trials contributing to imprecision in magnitude estimates. Data on adverse events were limited and poorly reported.
The paper at a glance
| Magellan’s evidence label | gate-control nerve stimulation (our label for this citation — see PubMed for the paper’s own title and authors) |
|---|---|
| Journal | BMJ Open |
| Year | 2022 |
| PMID | 35144946 ↗ |
| DOI | 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-051073 ↗ |
| Topic | Pain, nerves & musculoskeletal medicine |
Read the source: PubMed record (authors, abstract, full citation) ↗ · Publisher via doi.org ↗
Where Magellan uses this paper
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TENS Pain-Relief Unit
Evidence on TENS is mixed but, on balance, supportive for short-term pain relief. The largest synthesis (381 randomized trials) found pain intensity lower during or immediately after TENS versus placebo, and randomized trials and meta-analyses report benefits for fibromyalgia, post-surgical pain (with reduced opioid…
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a non-invasive, portable method of pain relief in…
Research describes the compound or intervention studied. It is not a claim about any specific product.
Molecules & mechanisms in this paper
Each of these is named in the paper’s own words above. Open the monograph for the full mechanism and its other citations.
Cite this page
These citations point at this summary. To cite the original paper with its full author list, use the PubMed record or doi.org.
Magellan Longevity. (2026). What is the efficacy and safety of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for pain relief in adults? [Plain-English summary of BMJ Open 2022, PMID 35144946, DOI 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-051073]. Magellan Longevity. https://magellanlongevity.com/study/s170.html@misc{magellan_s170,
title = {What is the efficacy and safety of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for pain relief in adults?},
author = {{Magellan Longevity}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://magellanlongevity.com/study/s170.html}},
note = {Plain-English summary of PubMed PMID 35144946; DOI 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-051073; BMJ Open 2022. Reviewed by Gabriel Radu, DO},
urldate = {2026-08-11}
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