Abstract: In order to evaluate the effect of treatment with pulsed electromagnetic fields in the lumbar herniated disc pain, a randomized, prospective, longitudinal study was conducted in 160 patients; with clinical and radiological diagnosis of uncomplicated herniated disc in the lumbar spine at L4-L5 and L5-S1 with more than 6 weeks of evolution with radicular pain type; who attended the consultation of Natural and Traditional Medicine Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery of Cuba, in the period from January to June 2015. The sample was divided into two groups of 80 patients each:
Group 1 Control: received treatment with analgesics, anti- inflammatories and muscle relaxants (Paracetamol. 500 mg 1 tablet every 6 hours for five days, Ibuprofen 400 mg 1 tablet every 8 hours for ten days and Metocarbamol.. 750 mg 2 tablets every 6 hours for ten days).
Group 2: 15 sessions of pulsed electromagnetic fields in the lower back level hernia injury on a daily basis were applied. Both groups were assessed before, after, and three months after completion of treatment in the following variables: the degree of improvement in pain by an analog scale of pain and functional capacity by administering the questionnaire OSWESTRY Index, which provides information as to how pain affects the ability to manage in everyday life. When applying an analysis of covariance to compare the means (ANOVA) it was found that there is no difference between the groups before treatment behaved evenly across the two groups.
It was obtained as a result that the group treated with electromagnetic fields group Pulsed was statistically superior to the Control Group treated with NSAIDs, analgesics and muscle relaxants regarding the capacity index (p = 0.000) and pain intensity assessed with the scale EVA evaluation of pain (p = 0.000). No adverse events were reported in the group treated with pulsed electromagnetic fields, the group treated with anti- inflammatory non-steroidal analgesics and muscle relaxants gastrointestinal adverse reactions occurred. We conclude that treatment with pulsed electromagnetic fields in the treatment of pain uncomplicated herniated lumbar disc with more than six weeks of evolution is a safe and effective method.