Görsel Illüzyon Uygulamasının Ağrı Şiddeti, Niteliği ve Fonksiyonel Kapasite Üzerine Etkileri

Abstract

This study was planned to compare the effect of visual illusion and TENS on pain intensity, pain quality and functional capacity in spinal cord injury patients with neuropathic pain. In the study, twenty four patients were included and randomly categorized into two groups. In the first group, visual illusion was applied for first two weeks and 1 week wash out period and then TENS was applied for 2 weeks. In second group, TENS was applied for first 2 weeks and 1 week wash out period and then visual illusion were applied for last 2 weeks. The signs and symptoms of the neuropathic pain was assessed with DN4 scale; present, mean, the most and less pain was evaluated with visual analog scale (VAS), quality of the pain was evaluated with the neuropathic pain scale (NPS), the effect of pain on functional capacity was assessed with Brief Pain Inventory (BPI). All assessments were performed four times before and after both treatments. It was observed that pain intensity decrease immediately after both applications (p<0,05). After TENS application for 2 weeks, it was observed that significant decrease in most and less pain intensity (p<0,05); while there was no significant decrease in pain intensity after 2 weeks for visual illusion application (p>0,05). When findings of NPS were analyzed, pain intensity, heat, sharpness, unpleasant, deepness decreased after visual illusion application (p<0,05); while there was no significant difference after TENS apllication (p>0,05). When the results of BPI were detected, they were observed that the negative effect of pain on moving ability after visual illusion application and the negative effect of pain on mood, relationships with others and sleep after TENS application decreased significantly (p<0,05). In conclusion, both applications may be used as an alternative approach in the conditions of the desired results cannot be provided with medical treatment or as a supporting approach to the medical treatment in clinic.