With the change of time, new developments are seen in the field of medical science, and a whole new branch of the same is now in a trend which is known as Physiotherapy. There are many physical problems one has to counter which may be due to age or other unnatural factors. It deals with the right motor function of various organs of the body. For this, it takes the support of various device and exercises.
The TENS: Tens as is known a method of electrical stimulation. By activating sensory nerves, it mainly aims at providing a symptomatic pain relief it involves the stimulation of either the opioid system or the pain gate mechanism. The application of different ways of tens is related to the different physiological mechanisms. With the type of clinical pain being treated the effectiveness of tens varies. It has been found that if used with care it gives greater pain relief in comparison to a placebo intervention.
In both laboratory and clinical settings extensive research has been done on tens, you can refer to key papers. You can use term tens to represent any sort of electrical stimulation that is done by using skin surface electrodes to stimulate nerves. While considering clinical context, electrical stimulation is generally used for providing symptomatic relief. There are other types of stimulation also that come under this group.
How does TENS Unit work?
The primary aim of the type of stimulation rendered by the tens is the stimulation or excitation of sensory nerves in order to cause activation of specific natural pain relief mechanisms. The Endogenous Opioid System and Pain Gate Mechanism are two main mechanisms that can be activated and are briefly explained as Physical Therapy Tens Units.
In the pain gate mechanism occurs the excitation or activation of the A-beta sensory fibers and causes the reduction of the transmission through the spinal cord of the noxious stimulus from the ‘c” fibers the to higher centers. The appreciation of the A beta fibers at a relatively high rate 90-130 Hz is observed. A single frequency works best for every patient has no support, but the majority of the patients are covered in this range. To find optimal treatment frequency of the patients is important but that varies from individual to individual. To set the machine and consider it right for the patient is not an effective treatment, some relief can be noticed. Many kinds of tens units for sale are available in the market.
In Opioid mechanisms, the A-beta responds to lower rate of excitation or activation that is 2-5Hz and will give pain relief by releasing endogenous opiate (encephalin) through spinal cord thus causing activation of the noxious sensory pathways. Similarly, a single frequency does not work for every patient. It is advisable to enable patients to explore the options that are possible.
The third method is to employ burst mode stimulation in which both nerve types are stimulated simultaneously. In this method frequency stimulation output is about 100 Hz which is burst or interrupted at the rate of 2-3 bursts per second.
