Advice about TENS machine, please

[Kiki-frog]

I've been using a TENS machine for lower back problems for a couple of years now and find it helps a lot with short-term relief. I generally keep the pads in place for most of the day and then switch it on for bursts of up to an hour or more as and when the pain gets really bad.

Just recently someone told me that it's bad to use it for more than half an hour a day, so I've been trying to find out. I can't find the instructions that came with it, and advice on the internet is vague, although I get the impression that it's ok to use it for as long as you need to. Does anyone have any hard facts, please?

[ummmm]

It's to relieve pain. Not to heal a condition.

[Sqad]

I am with Katiekonker.............I have never read any scientific studies that show the effectiveness of TENS.

Plenty of anecdotal evidence......but no conclusive scientific evidence.

Jury well and truly still out.

[Kiki-frog]

Sqad - as I said to Katie, even if it is just a placebo effect, does it really matter as long as it helps with chronic pain, as it evidently does with daffy and myself? Quite frankly I don't give a stuff whether the guys in lab coats prove or disprove its worth. Sometimes when I get up from my desk the pain is so intense that it makes me scream out loud, and using the TENS machine will take the edge off it. As far as I'm concerned, it works.

Sorry, rant over.

But my original question was about safety, so I'd be interested to hear anyone's opinion about that.

[albaqwerty]

Kiki, I'm thinking you need Waterboatman for this. He has a TENS machine and knows it really helps him.
I don't know how frequently he uses it tho.

[Sqad]

Kiki.....fine......I have no "truck" with that personal approach.

In answer to your question, no reliable research has gone into the efficacy of TENS and certainly not into the dangers and that is the whole point of studies. to evaluate and safeguard the patient.

My personal opinion, using the small amount of electrical current that it does, an hour would have no deleterious effects.

[ttfn]

Kiki, I use a TENS, sometimes for hours each day as required, for a serious back injury I sustained in 1985. It certainly helps my pain management.

That IS a fact :)

[Kiki-frog]

Alba - thanks, I didn't know that about WBM. I suspect from his earlier post he's at the Stroud on the Water festival, drinking beer and listening to bands. Which is where I would have been if my back hadn't been so bloody painful today!

Sqad - thanks for that and apologies for the rant.

ttfn - another valuable insight, thanks.

[Sqad]

Kiki...;-)...no need to apologise.

[albaqwerty]

just get yer basque and fishnets on, then he'll forgive you :-D

If I don't catch Boaty on here tomorrow morning I'll email him x

[ttfn]

Cheers alba. What am I supposed to do? Put my corset and lisle stockings on?
thuddddddddddddddddd

[albaqwerty]

Ena, stop it, ye'll set him off again :-)

He likes a bit of mystery (so I've heard)

[Kiki-frog]

LOL, Alba, I would, but at the moment I wouldn't even be able to bend down to get my stockings over my feet! But maybe that alluring aroma of Ralgex would be a suitable aphrodisiac instead.

[sunny-dave]

mmmmmmmmm ... ralgex ... ♥♥♥

< and my GP thinks that TENS works 'for some people and some types of pain' >

[albaqwerty]

no dave, that's not how you spell it. it's Stockings.

(silly boy)


Sorry Kiki.

[jackthehat]

My physio-terrorist advised me to use my TENS machine for as long and as often as necessary.
The only complication is if the patient is fitted with a pace-maker.......

It provided me with quite a bit of relief (as did acupuncture) right up to the point where it *didn't* and I required surgery (also lower-back trouble with me).

If it is NOT providing any quantifiable relief (according to the naysayers), conversely, it can't be causing any damage, either!

[sunny-dave]

< and never leave the tube of ralgex near the toothpaste ... or if you do then never clean your teeth in the dark >

[ttfn]

We used to have Algipan, not seen it in the chemists for a while. Have Googled it and apparently it is still out there ...

[sunny-dave]

To get back to 'serious' for a moment - the only sure relief I got for back pain (sciatic/muscular/spasms) was that much misunderstood drug Valium (diazepam).

Used occasionally in quite serious doses - when everything got just too painful - it effectively called 'time out' on all the pain/tension and let me start again.