This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor: The article by Dr Ghoname and colleagues¹ appears to show that percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (PENS) is better than some other modalities as a temporary treatment for low back pain (LBP). The authors state that patients selected for this study had chronic "LBP secondary to radiologically confirmed degenerative disc disease." However, the radiographic degree of disk degeneration generally does not correlate well with degree of pain; in fact, many patients with degenerative disk disease have no LBP.

The authors found that a simple exercise maneuver compared unfavorably with PENS and generalized this failure to all "exercise therapies." Only in their concluding comments do they mention that the poor result of exercise "may be a reflection of the lack of effectiveness of this particular exercise maneuver. . . . " The study protocol of 3 half-hour sessions per week over 3 weeks may be optimal for PENS, but . . . [Full Text of this Article]