The use of interferential therapy for pain management by physiotherapists

The objective of this survey was to collect information about physiotherapists' self-report of their use of interferential therapy (IFT) to manage pain. Physiotherapists working in four city hospitals in the North of England completed a questionnaire designed by the authors to establish the use of IFT. Fifty two of the 57 respondents reported that they had previously used IFT in clinical practice. Thirty six respondents reported that they used IFT on a regular (weekly) basis and 35 of these used it for pain relief. However, 25 of the 35 respondents who regularly used IFT for pain relief reported that they used it on less than 25% of all of the pain patients that they managed in the clinic. The 35 respondents who regularly used IFT for pain relief reported that they administered one to five IFT treatments (n=26) to each patient with individual IFT treatments usually lasting 11–20 minutes (n=27). The respondents reported that they most commonly used amplitude modulated frequencies of 100Hz, together with 6^6 (delivery of a 6-second decrease between two predetermined amplitude modulated frequencies of IFT) swing patterns. Their knowledge about IFT practice was reported to be gathered from departmental colleagues (n=26). The survey concludes that there was similarity in the IFT parameters and regimens used for pain relief between respondents. Most respondents used a trial and error approach to establishing IFT parameters using feedback from the patient about the comfort of IFT. In addition, IFT devices are large and expensive and remain in physiotherapy clinics and this may be the reason why respondents tend to administer IFT for less than 30 minutes while the patient attends the clinic. Perhaps physiotherapists should consider recommending cheap portable transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) devices instead of IFT, as patients can self-administer TENS whenever they need