Posts Tagged ‘TENS’

Babycare TENS – still great to use after the birth!

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

Before you had your baby, you might have heard of TENS machines. They can be used for a whole range of pain conditions. In particular, there are several post-delivery conditions, which might affect you and which can be helped with your amazing Babycare Tens machine!

These sort of conditions that are common and are described on pages 14-21 of our booklet “a Women’s Guide to Drug Free Pain Relief”. There we set out both suggested body and ear point treatments, which are described in detail.

The conditions include the following:

Shoulder pain: – this is often associated with breast feeding;
Perineal and after pain;Anxiety and Depression;
Dysmenorrhoea – period pain;
Pre-menstrual stress and headaches;
Residual back pain;
Pelvic floor weakness and incontinence; and
Post Caesarean delivery incision pain

N.B. A combination of body and ear points are described for all the conditions listed above and these can be treated with your Babycare TENS machine and/or your Body clock Stimplus Unit together and or with ear acupressure if the use of a TENS machine is not convenient at the time

Recent Research:Smith CM, Guralnick MS, Gelfand MM, Jeans ME.The effects of transcutaneous  electrical nerve stimulation on post-cesarean pain.
Pain. 1986 Nov;27(2):181-93The results suggest that TENS was significantly more effective than placebo TENS in reducing cutaneous,
movement-associated incisional pain

Babycare TENS drives away your period pain!

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

The aim of TENS machine is to reduce the intensity of period pains whilst allowing you to remain alert and in control. It also has the added bonus of promoting a feeling of wellbeing. Babycare TENS machines are excellent for this purpose.

The first step is to place two pairs of electrodes on the lower front and back of your abdomen as shown in the diagrams and instructions within page 17 of our booklet – “A Women’s Guide to Drug Free Pain Relief”. Set the treatment length and use the techniques as described there. The ear points can also be treated with your Stimplus or with acupressure as described at the bottom of page 17.

If you have a Stimplus unit you can also treat the body points as shown in the Stimplus Manual at Chart I ‘Menstrual Pain’ for 30 seconds on each point – don’t forget the hand points on the web space between the first finger and thumb.

Recent Research: Tugay N, et al. (2007) Effectiveness of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation
and interferential current in primary dysmenorrhea. Pain Med. 2007 May-Jun;8(4):295-300.
CONCLUSION: Both transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and interferential current appear to
be effective in primary dysmenorrhea.

Babycare TENS – also good for pre-menstrual tension and headaches!

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

The aim of a TENS machine is to reduce the intensity of pe-menstrual tension, and associated headaches whilst remaining alert and in control.andd also promoting a feeling of general wellbeing.  Babycare TENS machines are also excellent for this purpose.

The first step is to place two pairs of TENS  electrodes on back of the neck as shown in the diagrams and instructions within our booklet “A Women’s Guide to Drug Free Pain Relief” on page 18. Set the treatment length and use the techniques as described there.

An alternative is to use two electrodes on the point ST36 as shown on page 7 but you need to sit or lie down for this one. The ear points and hand points can also be treated with your Stimplus or with acupressure and this is also described at the bottom of page 18.

If you have a Stimplus unit you can also treat the body points as shown in the Stimplus Manual at Charts H and I ‘Headache, Migraine and Menstrual pain’ for 30 seconds on each point – don’t forget the hand points between the finger and thumb and also don’t forget that you can do this at anytime of the day/night.

Recent Research:Vernon H, McDermaid CS, Hagino C (1999)  Systematic review of randomized
clinical trials of complementary/alternative. Complement Ther Med. 1999 Sep;7(3):142-55.
Evidence from a sub-set of high quality studies indicates that some CAM therapies may be useful
in the treatment of these common forms of headache.

Using your Babycare TENS after a Caesarean Section

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

TENS machine is a popular and effective method of pain management used by women who have had a Caesarean Section.

The aim of TENS machines is to reduce the intensity of the post-operative Caesarean abdominal pain and to help keep the mother alert, who is then able to attend to the newborn baby; avoiding the secondary effects of analgesic drugs over the mother-newborn relationship. Babycare TENS machines are specially designed for this purpose.

The treatment could not be more simple – just place two pairs of electrodes on the abdominal wall on each side of the incision line or as shown in the diagrams and instructions on page 21within our booklet – “A Women’s Guide to drug free pain relief.” It is recommended that you use a dedicated Babycare TENS machine during this procedure. It is a safe product and is specially designed for this purpose.

Babycare TENS machines can also be used in conjunction with other methods of pain control e.g. pethidine or other post-operative medication if needed. If you have a Body Clock Stimplus unit you or your partner can also use it on  the recommended ear points to help manage pain control as show under the Ear Point treatment section or use acupressure on those points, as shown on page 21 of our Guide.

Recent Research

Lantsev EA, Smirnov AA. The use of transcutaneous electric neurostimulation for postoperative analgesia in parturients undergoing caesarean section. Anesteziol Reanimatol. 1990 Nov-Dec;(6):66-9. The study was performed in 210 women with caesarean section. In 160 patients analgesia was performed with transcutaneous electrical neurostimulation and in 50 patients narcotic analgesics were used. It has been established that both techniques ensure adequate analgesic effect. At the same time transcutaneous electrical neurostimulation, ensuring good to excellent analgesia in 77.5% of women, has no negative effect on haemodynamics and respiratory function and accelerates rehabilitation processes.

Navarro Nuñez C, Pacheco Carrasco M. Transcutaneous electric stimulation (TENS) to reduce pain after cesarean section. Ginecol Obstet Mex. 2000 Feb;68:60-3. This study supports previous findings reporting that transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation induces a decrement of 50% on the total amount of analgesic drugs employed. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation showed to effectively reduce the intensity and duration of pain of cutaneous origin, as well as to reduce pain associated with voluntary movements, in all patients. Our results are indicative that transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation constitutes an alternative treatment in order to reduce postoperative pain during the immediate period following cesarean birth; reduces the requirements of analgesic drugs; helps on keeping alert the mothers and therefore able to attend the newborn; and avoids secondary effects of analgesic drugs over mother-newborn relationship.

Using TENS with epilepsy

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

There does not appear to be any reason why you cannot use a TENS machine if you have epilepsy. We have checked this out with a consultant neurologist in the past, to establish if patients with epilepsy can safely use TENS machine and his answer was “Yes!”.  Electrical stimulation is not only safely used in TENS machine but  is in fact  also used to treat intractable epilepsy. However, if you are unsure please contact you medical advisor or Epilepsy Specialist Nurse for further guidance.

Using TENS with Tennis Elbow

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

This is another common condition where TENS machines can be used to help with pain control and to return the range of elbow movement back to normality. The aim of TENS machines is to reduce the intensity of pain at rest or on movement, reduce the inflammation and promote a gradual return to normal function.

The first step is to place one of the electrodes over the outer aspect of the elbow over the most painful area, if known, and the second one opposite on the inner aspect of the elbow.  This can be seen in the diagrams on page 14 in our Easy Guide to TENS Pain Relief.

The next step is to select the timing, pulse rate, mode and intensity and then use your TENS machine as often as needed – this may be continuously during the first few days and at an intensity which may be fairly strong and firm or quite strong later which overrides the pain as you begin to move the elbow joint actively or passively with your other arm – it is a matter of personal preference and trial to see which suits you best!

After a few days, it should be possible to reduce the treatment time to shorter sessions of around 30-60 minutes and then 30 minutes once or twice each a day as your symptoms improve.

It may also be very helpful to use other treatments at this time in association with TENS machine e.g. analgesics, anti-inflammatories and local anti-inflammatory gel, mousse or spray e.g. ibuprofen or similar and cold or hot packs. Consult your medical practitioner or pharmacist if necessary, Gentle exercise can also be helpful, beginning with passive and then active exercise, including stretching exercises with a full range of elbow movement as your condition improves and returns to normal.

Recent Research:

1.Chesterton LS, van der Windt DA, Sim J, Lewis M, Mallen CD, Mason EE, Warlow C, Vohora K, Hay EM. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation for the management of tennis elbow: a pragmatic randomized controlled trial: the TATE trial (ISRCTN 87141084). BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2009 Dec 11;10:156. This study is currently underway and ends in 2011.

2. Su X, Wu ZQ Cao XM, Effects of electro-acupuncture of different frequencies for treatment of patients with refractory tennis elbow syndrome. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2010 Jan;30(1):43-5. The electro-acupuncture of a pulsed waveform is better than the electro-acupuncture of continuous waveform  and is a better treatment for refractory tennis elbow syndrome.