Anyone else own a TENS unit?

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I'm hooked up to mine at the moment. It's probably my best friend. Does anyone else have one? If so, what model you got? I have an Empi 300PV. I'm always afraid I will not pay attention and put electrodes in the wrong spot and kill myself though.

I've never heard of them before now, but after checking them out they sound so cool! I know I'd be completely immature if I had one though, I'd probably spend most of the time with it pretending I was in The Matrix or something...

Mainly they're used for pain control or increasing circulation. My machine has a setting for retraining muscles after surgery or for gait training. I think the gait training requires an additional attachment though. The manual is very complicated and might as well be written in hieroglyphics. My therapist didn't lock mine so I am able to change the programming.

They're great for people with chronic pain.

They're often used by women during labour for pain relief.

For pain relief you generally use it on a frequency of 80 - 120 Hz.

To stimulate muscle contractions, you set it on a lower frequency.

NEVER change the frequency when it is on - this can change the intensity and hurt.

Turn the intensity off before changing the frequency.

Helen

Do these really work well?

I get extremely bad period pain (sorry to be disgusting) and I also get many internal muscle spasms due to an intestinal disorder - so if this works I'd certainly be interested in giving it a try.

Girl7000
There’s nothing disgusting about your pain or the reason for it, you don’t need to apologize for mentioning it, it’s something you have no control over. In the U.S. you need a prescription to buy a tens unit. There are some units sold without a prescription but they are less powerful than the prescription units. They both involve electrical boxes, wires, electrodes…you can get pretty kinky with it you want.
There’s another choice. Tens units are widely used in Asia, where they call it an Electro-Acupuncture Instrument. I have a really nice unit I got there called a Stimplus Pro (the “Stim” part says YES!!). It’s a hand held unit with a probe you apply to the affected area. It comes with a little book depicting where to apply it for various aliments (including menstrual cramps). It works great. I’ve used it on sprains, pulled muscles and general aches. Once while at sea I had an awful toothache but couldn’t take codine for fear it would impair my judgment. I suffered for some time until I remembered I had the unit. In desperation I place the probe of the unit on my gum opposite the bad tooth and fired it. All pain was gone immediately. The girl crewmembers have reported benefits from it when they had cramps, but I’m unsure what other measures they took. I do know that most bought their own units afterwards. They got them here: http://www.bodyclock.net/acatalog/Stimplus_Pro.html (this outfit ships to the U.S.).

Yes the TENS units do work if you get the prescription kind. I can't voucher for the non-prescription kind though. I know anything billed through insurance is always overpriced, but its still doubtful a $50 model can beat one sold by prescription for over $1500. I think the cheap one's also have just one setting and they usually have tiny electrode pads with them.

For the period pain someone mentioned here's two things that help most women. Take a magnesium supplement each night and every night. If you are deficient in magnesium you are more likely to get bad period cramps. Also there's a supplement called Cramp Bark. It's the bark from some tree but its an antispasmotic and works better than painkillers for period cramps. You can brew a tea from it. Or it works even longer if you grind the bark in a coffee bean grinder then put it in capsules. Its really bitter you just can't swallow the stuff unless its in a gelcap.

My Grandmother was suffering joint pain from last 5 years. She very tried form joint pain and used different medicines but no any effect on join pain. Few months ago one of my friends told me about SantaMedical Tens Unit Pulse Massager. She can use this product herself and in few minutes only she gets relief from her joint pain.