Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group TENS Unit

I'm thinking of buying a TENS unit to help with the back pain. Does anyone else use one, or have any other suggestions.

Jeff

Shack - I have used them for years - they work great for spot pain - does not seem to help with my overall back spasm. Karen_the_mouse suggested using several units placed around back - have not tried it yet.

I got several units from a friend of mine who is a PT - they were not new condition but he gave them to me. A few $$ for wires and electrodes and I was in business.

Brian

Insurance paid for mine and pays for a lifetime supply of electrodes. If you have insurance, you might want to check it out.

I love my TENS unit. It was wonderful for my neck and helpful for SI pain. I would put it on early in the pain cycle and it prevented my muscles from going into spasm. I used to wear it all night long when my neck was really bad and it enabled me to get some sleep.

I found it helpful for fairly localized pain. It would cover my neck or my SI joint.

Karen

Karen,

I'll have to check with insurance and I guess I'll have to ask my doctor for a script. Does the unit help at all with pain in the vertebrae or just the muscles. I seem to ache everywhere so I guess any relief will be an improvement.

Jeff

I didn't have bone pain, so I can't tell whether the TENS would help for it.

I used the TENS mostly for my neck. It felt to me as if there were pain in the ligaments at about C4-C6 as well as muscle pain and spasms all through the neck and extending down toward the shoulders.

For me, pain caused tension, which caused more pain, which caused more tension until I was in spasm. I found I could prevent the muscle spasms from starting if I put the TENS on early in the pain cycle, before I had built up to spasms.

Some studies have shown that TENS helps with healing, though others contradict that. Figuring it wouldn't hurt to try, I've used the TENS on my tennis elbow and a couple of other places. It's hard to say whether I got better faster or not because of the TENS.

When my SI pain got nasty, the TENS helped quite a bit what that also.

For a couple of months there, I was using the TENS almost all night every night. When I got used to it, I found the rhythm of the TENS to be very soothing and it helped me to relax and sleep.

Before I got a unit, I used one at the doctor's office a couple of times. When I told the doc how helpful it had been for me, she ordered one for me immediately.

It might help you to make a decision if you try a TENS at a doctor's office or PT clinic first, though it can take some experimenting with placement of electrodes and type of stimulation to find what works best for you.

The doctor told me that a TENS can provide pain relief without the risk of drugs, which is true. However, a chiropractor pointed out to me that we don't really know what we might be doing when we are messing around with nerve impulses and electrical stimulation like that and there might be some risks involved. The chiropractor had a point.

All I know is that when my neck was really bad, the TENS allowed me to keep working and to sleep at night while staying off of pain meds.

I hope that provides you with a little more information to help you decide whether a TENS might be beneficial for you.

Karen

Hi,


I have used the tens machine with great success especially for lower back, it just confuses the pain message and works well with the heat two.

Well worth a try.

Cheers

Hi

I find it helps SI pain, and I tend to use mine for shoulder pain too. I think if you get the electrodes in the right place, it will help with bone pain too, as it does for pain I get in my mid-low back.

Start slowly, and experiment with the different modes and varying intensities. Overuse can make pain worse, and will definately increase any spasms you may have,

I think mine was only £30, and it hasnt let me down yet.

Yes, the TENS units increases endorphins in the brain, increasing pain tolerance.

It also blocks transmission of nerve impulses carrying pain signals from peripheral regions to the spinal cord. In that way, it also blocks the perception of pain to some extent.

Karen

Hiya,

I got mine for $AUD 30.00

You can pay alot more even as high as $USD 500. The only difference I can see in these units is the build on the more expensive ones is better so they last longer, but the big failure point is the leads and electrodes, so paying so much seems a bit of over kill... as even if the cheaper unit lasts a year you will need a fair few years before it is more cost efficient to buy the big price ones.

I find that the TENS does not always do the job, even on the same pain and sites. When the inflammation is managed down it can bring alot of relief used on the pain type that respond to it..typically a spasm in muscle close to the spine that is irritating nerves or nerve roots.

Early on in this disease it was good on the SI but I'm not getting much relief there these days.

TENS really requires about 2 hours of use to boost the endomorphs. I've used mine on high settings when the muscles contract to force loose some of the stuck areas around the AC joints.

Dave


Dave