Efficacy of Microcurrent Electrical Stimulation on Pain, Proprioception Accuracy and Functional Disability in Subacromial Impingement: RCT

To determine the efficacy of microcurrent electrical stimulation on pain, proprioception accuracy and functional disability in patients with subacromial impingement.

A randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Forty patients with subacromial impingement were were randomly assigned into two equal groups: experimental group (n=19, mean age=48.8±6) or control group (n=21, mean age=49.1±3.3). Experimental group received microcurrent electrical stimulation and control group received placebo microcurrent stimulation; three sessions per week over a period of six weeks. Pain, proprioception accuracy and functional disability were measured at baseline and after last session of corresponding intervention.

After six weeks, the experimental group demonstrated a significant improvement in pain score (P = 0.001) and functional disability (p=0.003) while there was no significant difference between groups regarding proprioception accuracy (p =0.067).

The results of this study suggested that microcurrent electrical stimulation at the selected parameters could be an effective modality in reducing pain and improving functional disability in patients with subacromial impingement. Further study needed to investigate the long term effect of microcurrent on proprioception accuracy.