Tens for Back Pain

Back pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal complaints in the western world. It is highly prevalent in our society, largely due to our increasingly sedentary lifestyles. It is estimated that up to 70%-80% of the population will experience some sort of back pain in their adult life. This is not a great statistic but to put things into perspective, the level of pain can range from just some mild aching after doing some gardening to a full blown ‘slipped disc’.

Many people who suffer from back pain are diagnosed with “non-specific, mechanical back pain”. This simply means that the source of the pain is from the back and due to the joints, muscles or other soft tissues like ligaments and is not serious. It is given this term because often it is impossible to isolate the actual source of the pain.
Despite this, the treatment is often similar unless a specific structure can be identified as the cause of the pain. Usual treatments include, maintaining your mobility, physiotherapy and pain killers. Most low back pain resolve over a period of about 6 weeks but occasionally, the pain can persist.

If the pain persists, then you may need to seek some medical help. You may be prescribed more powerful pain killers to enable to keep mobile but not everyone wants to take these powerful drugs due to the side-effects. Pain killers can cause a variety of side-effects that include stomach problems to drowsiness. An alternative to pain killers is to use a Tens machine.

A Tens machine is a great device that can be used to provide effective pain relief for your back pain whilst you explore other treatments. In the first few weeks of having back pain, your doctor is likely to recommend that you take pain killers and see how things go, if things persist for more than 6 weeks, then they may refer your on for further treatment such as physiotherapy. During these first 6 weeks, a Tens machine is a good option and alternative to taking chemical drugs. You can receive all the pain relieving benefits without any of the side-effects.

A Tens machine can help to block the pain and keep you mobile. They are very effective at reducing pain and due to their small unit size, they can be carried around with you to be used all day. Tens machines work by stimulating certain nerve fibres that help to block the pain signals at the spinal cord level. They stimulate the nerve fibres by producing small electrical currents through the electrodes. On all but the most basic units, the small electrical pulses can be adjusted to suit user comfort.

If you suffer from back pain and prefer not to take medication, try a Tens machine for effective pain relief.