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I was at the Southampton Boat Show earlier in the week and after a bit of walking around I needed to sit and rest my ankle. I stopped at one of the booths offering the amazing TENS machine for just £300 down from £600 for the show. The wired it up to my ankle, turned it on and went through a 20 minute sales spiel which ended when I felt rested and pointed out that the TENS machines only cost £30 on Amazon.
Sat at home that evening I realised that my ankle wasn't really painful, despite walking for probably almost a mile around the boat show which would normally leave me in agony for a few days. The only thing I could put it down to was the session on the TENS machine so decided to buy one. The £30 one, not the £300 show special.
It arrived while I was at the office so I have only used it for about 30 minutes so far but in summary:
1) In EMS mode to 'massage your muscles after a work out' it was a cross between having a nice massage and connecting a frogs legs to a battery in the school classroom. Quite entertaining, not unpleasant but I am not sure if it was doing any good.
2) In TENS mode I wired it to my ankle as I was shown at the show and now my ankle doesn't really hurt much. Normally by this time in the evening it hurts like a badly strained ankle that someone has just kicked. I hope this isn't purely psychosomatic but I am really enjoying not being in pain for the first time in over 10 years.
Why didn't someone tell me about these before?
Has anyone else got/used one and any advice?
The only advice leaflet that came with my machine said don't connect it to your eyes, tongue, genitals or open wounds.
My dad has one and says i works for him.
The only advice leaflet that came with my machine said don’t connect it to your eyes, tongue, genitals or open wounds.
Will you be trying them in that order?
don’t connect it to your... genitals
I genuinely thought that's what they were for.
I remember physios using them on me in the 90s. Can't say I noticed them doing anything, but glad it works for you.
I got one and eases my knee osteoarthritis.
Unfortunately my wife has taken it to see if it will reduce the arthritic pain in her wrist which seems to strike in the middle of the night so I can't test any of the forbidden areas right now, hence my question to the forum. I was kind of expecting someone to say thay had tried at least one (yes, that one) before and could let me know what it felt like.
I've used one for sciatica before and would say that yes, it does work. But only to block the pain signals, not in any healing way.
More memorably, my wife had a 'Maternity TENS' machine hired via the NCT when she was expecting our first. IDK what the difference is to a normal one but we had it on, at a lowish level as the contractions started to grow. The contractions grew stronger, and more frequent, and she was continuing to breathe through them without any medical pain relief.
At the height of one of these contractions (in hindsight, not ideal time) I merely mentioned she had a few more clicks on the TENS machine if she was interested. Like a western gunslinger in one motion she managed to rip the machine from her side and hit me square in the middle of the chest with the damn thing.
That did hurt.
[i] But only to block the pain signals, not in any healing way.[/i]
My ankle is a degenerating injury and I am just lining up for the next round of surgery so I am just looking for something to reduce the pain and pass the time.
Whilst expecting Jr number 1 my wife read up about pain relief and after consultation with the midwife, decided that she would manage pain only by using a TENS machine. FF several months later to the maternity unit and a very rapid onset labour: the midwife wires her up. Mrs StingMeRed : “is that it, is this some kind of joke? please remove that thing from me, it’s not even touching the sides!” Unlike jr #1 1 I thought, who was very definitely making his physical presence known…
My wife used one during her period pains (over 20 yrs ago now) and she claimed they helped with the pain. I have a small rechargeable one that I have used on on ankle pain including achilles (which can be too tender to touch) and I think it helps a little.
Do these machines 'activate muscles' in any meaningful way? I have a biomechanical issue that occasionally results in various muscles in my back/hips 'locking up' or getting tight to the point of deactivating and that results in nasty back pain. Sometimes I fail to manage it with foam roller, exercise and stretches so I wonder if something like this might release things to the point I can start moving properly again...
The one I got is a combine TENS and EMS machine.
The TENS part basically doesn't connect the electrodes to the muscles and its meant to stimulate the nerves instead.
The EMS is the same but you put the electrodes onto the muscles to stimulate them.
In EMS mode with the power turned up you can make your muscles move significantly. My leg was bouncing up and down when I did my thigh muscle. I am not sure if that helps you but it is funny to watch and less than £30 on amazon.
Mangoletse, an osteopath I used to see used an EMS machine to warm up and loosen my back muscles before working on them, so presumably worth further investigation.
It was an odd sensation with them tensing and relaxing, but definitely helped. He used to ask me to tell him when was enough as he turned it up and left me twitching for 5mins until he came back and did other crunchy stuff 🤣
Why not combine it with a soothing dip in the hot tub? (Don’t obvs)
Thanks! The tip about EMS is really useful as I have always known these things as simply TENS machines.. good to know there's another more applicable 'mode'... for 30 quid I might just give it a try. The hard part is once my muscles have 'gone off' and getting access to more difficult ones with the roller / ball etc whereas this might hit the right spots and get me moving again