A UK registry study of the effectiveness of a new over-the-counter chronic pain therapy.

BACKGROUND: The ActiPatch(®) (BioElectronics Corporation, MD, USA) pulsed shortwave therapy device has been shown to be clinically effective in three double-blind randomized controlled pain studies. However, the effectiveness of this device in a broader population of chronic musculoskeletal pain sufferers, affected by a variety of etiologies in different regions of the body, has not been studied.

AIM: The objective of this registry study was to assess the effectiveness and satisfaction of the ActiPatch device in the general population of chronic pain sufferers.

METHODS: A total of 44,000 subjects completed the trial, with 5000 assessments of the device collected.

CONCLUSION: The ActiPatch device appears to provide a clinically meaningful reduction of chronic musculoskeletal pain affecting different locations of the body caused by a variety of etiologies.