Efeitos da estimulação transcraniana por corrente contínua na dor lombar: uma revisão integrativa

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Low back pain is a nonspecific and musculoskeletal condition most common worldwide, which can lead to chronicity with limiting discomfort, and in some cases it can be radiated to the lower limb. It affects approximately 80% of the world's population, causing a decrease in the ability to perform activities of daily living and biopsychosocial restrictions. Direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive, low-cost and easy-to-apply brain neuromodulation technique that can promote changes in cortex excitability to reduce pain. OBJECTIVE: To review the literature on the effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on low back pain. METHOD: This is an integrative review, with the aim of deepening the knowledge of the research theme. A search was carried out in the following databases: Pubmed, Scielo and LILACS, respecting the six steps for review. DEVELOPMENT: Five articles were analyzed in full, all in English, which presented different methodological ways of applying the tDCS for chronic low back pain and did not obtain consonance and significance in the results for pain, function and quality of life. CONCLUSION: there appears to be no significant effects of tDCS for individuals with chronic low back pain. The wide variety of tDCS application methods used in the studies included in this review make it difficult to analyze and understand the real effects of this technique for chronic low back pain.