Pain relief that works! (TENS Pain Relief Unit)

Member Name: bruffyboy

Product:	TENS Pain Relief Unit
Date:	23/08/09 (690 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: works

Disadvantages: cost

How can I review this? I hired it twice for my wife's birth, and even tried it myself. Basically these are a lot like those electric muscle building pads. They work by releasing an electric current across a pad and that is supposed to release endorphins, relax muscles and relieve pain. Their major use is in labour, but they can be used for any type of muscular pain.

First tip: hire one. For £20 we got ours from a local chemist and basically you get to keep it for as long as you need. It takes a bit of instruction on use as there are two dials to play with, but really you are varying the strength of signal and the length it lasts. You hook pads to wires to a base unit, slap the pads on the relevant area (the back for labour), and then put it on.

There is a hand-held button to press to release a shock when you have a contraction, and I have to say the worst bit is getting it all set up. Once it's on, it's over to the wife and away she goes, self medicating.

With our first, Claire wasn't sure it was working until she took it off and then realised it hurt a lot more, so it does relieve pain but not completely.

It feels (and I know because I tried it), like a small electric shock, a sharp vibration that hurts just a bit.

All in all, this is a pain relief that works but doesn't take all pain away. It's also hard to set up, and you should try and hire rather than buy.

Summary: do it