Evaluating the Efficacy of Capacitive Resistive Monopolar Radiofrequency Combined With Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation in Managing Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomised Controlled Trial.

There was no placebo or sham group, and the authors say that because the device produces a distinctive heating sensation they could not build a convincing dummy treatment. The improvement could therefore be partly a placebo response to a new, high-technology intervention, and the size of that contribution is unknown. Nobody was assessed after the treatment block ended, so the study says nothing about whether the pain and disability gains lasted beyond the day after the last session. Only 62 people were treated, all at one private clinic, and the authors themselves say this limits how far the results apply to other settings and populations. The people treating the participants knew who was getting which treatment, and participants could tell whether they were receiving the extra radiofrequency, so expectation on both sides could have influenced the self-reported pain and disability scores. The two groups differed in education level, with more high-school leavers in the combined group and more graduates in the control group, and both groups were largely at low risk of persistent disability on the screening tool used. Both groups received PNF exercise, so the trial tested whether adding radiofrequency helps, not whether PNF itself works. Ten sessions in two weeks is an intensive schedule that many patients cannot attend, and the results may not carry over to a more typical once- or twice-weekly course.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The paper does not state who funded the work or whether the device manufacturer had any involvement.

Do not read this as proof that radiofrequency treats chronic low back pain. Both groups were doing PNF exercise, there was no placebo group, and outcomes were measured only one day after the last session, so part of the extra improvement may be a placebo response to the device and nobody knows whether the gains lasted.