NCT07480252

Tecar Therapy in Patients With Lumbar Radiculopathy

Not yet recruiting NA Last updated 16 April 2026

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Tecar Therapy in Lumbar Radiculopathy in 90 participants. Not yet recruiting.

Timeline

15 April 2026

Primary endpoint
15 April 2028

15 December 2028

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Izmir City Hospital
Phase	NA
Status	Not yet recruiting
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	double
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	90
Start date	15 April 2026
Primary completion	15 April 2028
Estimated completion	15 December 2028
Sites	1 location across Turkey (Türkiye)

Drugs / interventions tested

• Tecar Therapy
• Sham Tecar Therapy
• Conventional Physical Therapy

Conditions studied

• Lumbar Radiculopathy — all drugs for Lumbar Radiculopathy →

Sponsor

Izmir City Hospital

Who can join

Adults 18 to 65, any sex, with Lumbar Radiculopathy. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Lumbar radiculopathy is a common cause of low back and leg pain, most frequently resulting from lumbar disc herniation and nerve root irritation. Conservative management, including physical therapy modalities and exercise therapy, is generally recommended as first-line treatment for patients without progressive neurological deficits. Tecar therapy (Transfer of Energy Capacitive and Resistive) is a non-invasive electrotherapeutic modality that delivers high-frequency electromagnetic energy to deep tissues and has been proposed to reduce pain, enhance microcirculation, and promote tissue recovery. However, evidence regarding its effectiveness in lumbar radiculopathy remains limited.

The aim of this randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the efficacy of Tecar therapy in patients with lumbar radiculopathy and to compare its clinical effects with conventional physical therapy and sham Tecar treatment.

A total of 90 participants with unilateral L5 and/or S1 radiculopathy will be randomized into three groups: (1) conventional physical therapy, (2) Tecar therapy combined with standard physical therapy, and (3) sham Tecar therapy combined with standard physical therapy. All participants will receive standardized postural education and a home exercise program.

The primary outcome will be pain intensity measured by the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Secondary outcomes will include functional disability (Oswestry Disability Index), neuropathic pain characteristics (PainDETECT questionnaire), lumbar mobility (Modified-Modified Schober Test), nerve root irritability (Straight Leg Raise test), rescue analgesic consumption, and exercise adherence. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline, post-treatment (week 2), and follow-up visits at weeks 6 and 12.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial.