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.