TENS units- anyone have 1?

[Ken07AOVette]

I have tried these before; the 2 minute demo they give you and the relief they give immediately is amazing. Has anyone bought or used one for any length of time?
Tennis elbow is driving me insane, after a day of fly fishing there isn't enough ibuprofen on the planet. 2 minutes with the tens on level 2 and the pain was gone for hours. I think it may just lessen the pain, which is good but the slick little salesman says using it religiously will heal the elbow problems.

Yay or nay?

[Big Daddy Badger]

Yup...good stuff... I've used em on my shoulder and my neck.

I manage pretty good most of the time now but can see myself buying one down the road.

[1000yards]

Never heard of it til now but sounds great!

[JohninAB]

Therapist has used a TENS unit for my lower back pain and I found it did give some relief. Never got the same relief from the home unit I tried even with it cranked wide open.

When I played slowpitch back in my younger days I would get terrible tennis elbow. Best cure for it I found was using a tensor strap while playing. Never got tennis elbow as long as I wore the tensor strap. Without it, pain was substantial.

http://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/tensor-t...FY-VfgodLCsAxA

[Kanonfodder]

Go to a Chiro TENS home u its are a waste of cash

[Ebrand]

Went to Physio to get rid of tennis elbow.

Took nearly two months. Half hour a day 3 days a week. Did my stretching and strenghti excercises religiously. Discomfort was gone pretty close to when Jews done physio. Strength took about 6 months to fully return.

Had to get referred to physio through my family doctor though.

TENS was part of the therapy nearly every session.

Go try Physio. Tennis elbow will only get worse if you don't deal with it.

Good Luck Ken.

[omega50]

Between Mrs Omega's frozen shoulder and back issues, we also have adult children who are heavily into Motocross and ice racing.
We have a home Tens unit for the past 4 years( Coop Medical ) and there is never a family dinner without someone looking for some pain relief.

Pain relief--which leads to better sleep and improved mood- For some people sure
Actual Healing of Tennis Elbow-( of which I suffered for 5 years) not in my experience- but anything is possible.
My Tennis Elbow was resolved with modifying the causative activity( Repetitive cutting as a Chef) and Nsaids. The use of a tightly cinched brace restricting the micro tears helped the most.
Did the Tens help?
Somewhat
Ours has paid for itself many times over by offering relief to the Mrs.

For me there seems to be little benefit. For Mrs. Omega and the kids they seem to get great relief and swear by it. Highly variable results person to person.

[hosmerunited]

I have been dealing with tennis elbow on the right arm for years and the other on acted up when taking the family out for first 3d shoot tournament. Took over 6 months of just resting the one for it not to act up every day. The one causeing me grief over the years has been the worse it ever has been the laat 3 plus months. Finally went to physio 1 day a week and I am finally in the home strech. Mostly doing three exercises a day. The one wuthe the most help has been the is one. Eccentric wrist flexion: Hold a can or hammer handle in the hand of your injured side with your palm up. Use the hand on the side that is not injured to bend your wrist up. Then let go of your wrist and use just your injured side to lower the weight slowly back to the starting position. Do 3 sets of 15. Gradually increase the weight you are holding. This might help you.
Mike

[Dacotensis]

Is grandpa one word or two?

I have used them, but didn't get any results.
I've done physio as well. With the same lack of results.

I'm at a point where the entire body hurts daily.
I live with chronic pain.
That would explain why I am so crusty

[Mekanik]

Originally Posted by Kanonfodder

Go to a Chiro TENS home u its are a waste of cash

My chiro uses a tens to relax muscles before he does the adjustment. It works well as a therapy combination especially with the active release therapy he's been adding into the sessions.

I have a small portable unit with four leads and it travels with us. If I have to sit in a car for four or more hours I lock up fast.

[Kanonfodder]

Iv had bad back issues for decades then I started using my Chiro and acupuncture and now I go just for an adjustment now and then

[densa44]

Years of baseball and paddling, have made my shoulders uncooperative, it hurts a lot to lift my arms above my shoulder. We got it off Stettler buy and sell for $50, and it looked brand new. I got my moneys worth already. Both wf and I use it.

The effect wears off in about 2 weeks and then I repeat.

[Ken07AOVette]

Thanks everyone, for the replies and pm's.

[Fish*Frenzy*]

If your thinking of getting one look into the dr.ho. I use it every day for my neck and back and it works wonders!

[DUKE-1]

i did physio
i did massage therapy
i did chiro( they do work on elbows also)
i did acupuncture THESE did not work 100% 2 hits of cortizone 6 months apart and i'm 100 %.
I had to try everything, and use my work medical $$ before i could convince myself on cortizone.. The 2nd shot the African Doc took some of my blood into the needle then shot it also into the elbow creating a huge bruise.. This is good , the bruise dissolved the damage and all good after that .

[waterninja]

ken, there are lots of medications and therapy's that i'm sure would help, but here's something that worked for my fishing elbow. someone told me to set up a dart board and throw darts whenever i had time. sounds silly but it really worked. good luck and hope it gets better soon.

[S&C_Coach]

TENS units are great for temporary relief as they block the pain pathways but DO NOT fix the problem. If you're going to get one then get one that a therapist would use. You can find them from physio supply stores or home care places. Nice thing about a TENS unit is that you can put it almost any where you are having issues for temporary relief.

Braces can help relieve symptoms but DO NOT fix the problem.

NSAIDS can decrease inflammation but DO NOT fix the problem.

See a pattern?

Here's the deal with this (and most overuse injuries)

- Find someone to fix the problem NOT just treat the symptoms (physio, chiro...its not their title that will fix things but the modalities they use).

Understand that you may have to try a few different things to find what works for you.

Options for treatment include (but are not limited to):

IMS - intramuscular stimulation is acupuncture where they stab the problem areas rather than traditional points along meridians

ART - active release therapy is very deep local manual muscle stripping (think of most painful massage ever)

Shockwave is aggressive sound waves that penetrate to break down the tendonopathies that are causing the pain

Cortisone will breakdown the tendonopathies from the inside but also breakdown other tissues...use sparingly

- Find the cause (what got it to this point?)

You are going to need to find out WHAT caused the problem so you can correct or modify the activity

- find something you can employ to get through the day WHILE you are actively fixing the problem (listed above)

Another thing that I have seen many people have success with is "voodoo floss". Lots of knock off products that are probably just as good as well and the "arm aid"

http://youtu.be/0dgbCDtqdlI

http://youtu.be/A2E3SbCUz34

Just as a point of reference Ken, I'm not trying sell you anything or telling you to go to a specific place. I am an Athletic Therapist so I have seen a whole lot of 'tennis elbows'

[wildcat111]

on the rigs we call it roughneck arm, i found the best treatment was icing it, also bought a couple of braces , they also worked great, but after therapy, it was still the ice that worked best.