Does anyone have experience with using a TENS unit for arthritis (in this case, in my thumb)?
I’d appreciate hearing about how well it worked (or didn’t), as well as any recommendations for a particular unit.
Thanks!
The FDA does not allow a ton of juice for the consumer available muscle stimulators. I’ve looked, and never found one that puts out a much larger stimulus than other such units. I stuck with a fairly basic 4 electrode unit. With 10 intensity levels, it comes with 3 basic stimulus patterns, a speed control, and buttons supposed to optimize for 6 or 8 different parts of the body. I don’t have much faith in that later feature, a cattle prod is basically a cattle prod, no matter how much you say it’s optimized for shoulders or lower backs. All the functional units I’ve tried do well on hands, fingers and arms. The larger muscles of the leg require more current than we non-health professionals are allowed to play with, unless your father happens to design them for a living.
That said, the majority, even the cheapies, can be made to make your fingers/thumb crawl like a spider. main thing to watch out for is electrode quality. They all seem to be a conductive plastic with glue now. On bad ones, the glue will give out after one use. Others last half of forever. Price point does not seem to be a reliable indicator of this property.
I went medium price range, and an reasonably happy with what it does for hands, arms necks etc. Lower body seems hopeless, unless I can find an inductor coil from an old model T, and roll my own. - That of course is incredibly dangerous, and I would never recommend anyone try it.
I’m not using it for arthritis, but it seems to me that, if the science is sound, most units out there should offer you at least some relief.
Big caveat, it does take some skill/practice to get today’s larger electrodes placed right. There are books online. Individuals vary too. Do some reading.
I use mine more for muscle issues. But I imagine any kind of stimulation might be soothing. A vibrating massager might be more useful though. But they are easy to get now, and not to pricey, though as already mentioned, they aren’t as powerful as the professional ones.
Slight hijack, last time I was at physical therapy they had some kind of ultrasound stimulator, but I didn’t get to try it. Anyone experience this, and do they make home models?
My wife tried it and saw no benefit. Some people swear by it. The effect may well be placebo. Who knows?
If it works it works.