Osteoarthritis mainly affects the joints and causes a lot of inflammatory pain in the joints. People with rheumatoid arthritis experience this pain in many regions of their body. Both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis lead to excessive pain in the muscles and joints and make dull, day-to-day tasks such as walking extremely difficult. A typical approach to the chronic pain is prescription pain management drugs, which lead to dependency with time. If you are struggling with arthritis joint pain, you should think about getting TENS therapy to reduce drug use and related side effects.

Using a TENS unit on a single region

The machine's full name is transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. Mild electrical currents are administered to your skin to reduce pain from arthritis.  When the electrodes are placed on the surface of your skin, they either suppress or completely block the transmission of pain messages to the brain. If pain from your arthritis only affects one region in your body, you will only need to place the electrodes above or below the affected joint.

Using the unit when multiple areas of pain are involved

If you are managing pain in various parts of the body, you should start the treatment by applying your pads on the most sensitive regions. The regions that are less painful can be dealt with after the most painful areas have stopped throbbing. If you have pain in areas such as the hip or the knee, the TENS unit can be applied to the lower back; which offers almost instant pain relief. The trick also works if the pain originates from the spinal cord.

Using the unit for chronic pain

If the pain is constant or chronic, you should keep the unit attached to the sensitive region. You can then activate or deactivate the unit when you feel the need to reduce the pain. When looking for a TENS unit, it is essential to get one which has both high and low pulse rates. Interchanging the high and low pulse helps a lot in reducing the level of discomfort.

Medical professionals always recommend that you consult a physiotherapy professional before you start using the TENS machine. If you have pre-existing conditions such as epilepsy, cancer, or heart problems, you should not start using the device before and without the guidance of a competent physiotherapist. With the direction of a qualified physiotherapist, managing joint and muscle pain will no longer be a problem.

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