The primary goal of TENS is alleviating acute and chronic pain in rheumatic disorders, traumas, orthopedic, neurological, gynecological and oncological disorders. It soothes the pain in the backbone, muscles and joints, but also diminishes stress and tension.
The word TENS is an acronym of trans-cutaneous electro-stimulation. The current is applied to the painful spot by means of electrodes placed on the skin. One electrode is placed on the hurting spot or over the nerve leading to it and the other on the opposite side. Pain is alleviated within 10 to 30 minutes which is the duration of the therapy.
TENS is a non-invasive therapy with no side-effects, as opposed to pain-killers. Additionally, the electro-stimulation stimulates the production of endorphin, a natural pain-killer found in the body.
In Kaliper polyclinic we use various kinds of current, of high or low tension, and the therapy is completely painless – the patient feels just a light pricking sensation on the skin under the electrode. Apart from alleviating pain, this therapy improves the blood circulation in the tissue.
We point out that TENS does not deal with the cause of pain, it just affects one type of nervous tissue (A fibers) which hinder the action of another type of fibers (C fibers) responsible for the transfer of pain to higher levels of the nervous system.
The therapy is applied either alone or in combination with other treatments; its advantage is that it decreases the use of pain-killers and there are no counter-indications to the use of TENS, but it is not advisable to patients with pace-makers.
TENS is applied in case of:
- post-operative pains
- lumbago
- insertion of prostheses
- arthrosis
- arthritis
- poor coalescence after fracture
- disorders in blood circulation
- headaches
- acute pain and injury
- chronic pain.