17 February 2005
A Macquarie University research team is using a pain treatment device first developed for the
Russian Space Program to treat chronic neck pain, with remarkable results in a clinical trial.
For the past 12 months, Macquarie University chiropractic PhD student Andrew Vitiello has been
testing the Electro Neuro Adaptive Regulator (ENAR), originally used to treat injured
cosmonauts who were spending up to three months in space.
“There was a lot of anecdotal evidence that this device worked for a range of illnesses and
disabilities,” says Vitiello. “But it was produced during a time in world politics where it was
about one-upmanship and the Russians did their research quite separately.
Vitiello and supervisors Associate Professor Rod Bonello and Dr Henry Pollard from the
University’s Department of Health and Chiropractic, chose a condition that was quite common
and very difficult to treat for the pilot study – chronic neck pain.
Twenty-four people who had not received therapy for three months were divided into three
groups. The first group was treated with Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)
therapy, another group received ENAR, and the control group unknowingly received a sham
treatment.
Results showed that people who received the TENS therapy were no better off than if they
received no therapy at all, whereas people who received the ENAR therapy found that not only
had their pain levels improved, so had their functional capabilities and quality of life.
“This is very exciting because it has proved to be quite an effective tool in reducing pain,” says
Vitiello. “From a clinician’s point of view, if you ease pain, you can get onto rehabilitation much
quicker. Obviously the biggest thing with chronic pain is that for people pain equals more harm.
‘I can’t exercise because it hurts, because it hurts I may be doing more damage.’ This allows us to
get over that hurdle quite easily and effectively.”
The next step for the ENAR team is to broaden the scope of the treatment.
