Beyond the Pill: Natural Neuromodulation with TENS, Acupuncture, and Other Modalities

There's more to pain relief than medication. Techniques like TENS, acupuncture, and other natural approaches can help calm the nervous system and support recovery - without the side effects.

Beyond the Pill: Natural Neuromodulation with TENS, Acupuncture, and Other Modalities

There's more to pain relief than pills. Techniques like TENS, acupuncture, and other non-pharmacological approaches offer ways to calm the nervous system and support recovery - often with fewer side effects. Much of my research in this area began in the early 1990s and has been shaped by a longstanding collaboration with Dr Ghazala Tabasam, who has been at Leeds Beckett almost as long as I have. Ghazala's dedication, insight, and leadership have been instrumental in advancing our understanding of neuromodulation and place-based faith-informed pain education - particularly within our Pakistani community. Her work continues to shape inclusive, culturally sensitive approaches to pain care that honour lived experience and promote meaningful engagement.

When I told some of my students I'd spent nearly 40 years studying TENS, one replied, "Isn't that quaint!" But this work is anything but trivial. Alongside TENS, I've explored many non-surgical, non-drug methods of pain relief. What I've come to realise is that while these treatments often outperform placebo, the differences between them - and even between some medications - are surprisingly small, especially in chronic pain.

That's why choosing a treatment isn't just about symptoms. It's about context, cost, acceptability, accessibility, and in some instances whether someone can use the treatment safely at home. Our team has published numerous systematic reviews over the years, many of which highlight the persistent lack of high-quality evidence in non-pharmacological pain management. However, there have been important breakthroughs. In 2009, I was part of a team that published landmark evidence in The Lancet demonstrating that low-level laser therapy significantly reduces chronic neck pain. More recently, in 2023, our team at Beckett published a review of 381 trials in BMJ Open, showing that TENS is superior to placebo for both acute and chronic pain.

Used within an Integral Pain framework that holistically supports the whole person, these techniques offer a meaningful way to soothe pain - without the side effects commonly associated with medication. It's time we looked beyond the pill and embraced a broader, more human approach to pain care.