♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ the two most famous ♪
♪ physical therapists ♪
♪ on the internet ♪
- [Bob] All right, okay, Brad.
We're gonna talk about TENS units.
- [Brad] Ten of them?
- No, we're talking about
transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation.
T-E-N-S.
- Yeah.
- Does it work?
Brad, does it work?
- Well, Bob, of course it works.
They've been around for years, actually.
- Right.
- And we've both used it on patients
as well as ourselves, so-
- Yeah, I think it works better with some patients
than others.
- right.
- I mean, but right now let's talk about how it works.
- Well, you should just show what it is, here's-
- Show what it is, yeah. - here's a little TENS unit.
You can put it in your pocket,
there's always a wire lead that connects-
- Like a lead.
- to the electrodes that stick to your skin,
and they're gonna, if I have have a painful arm,
it's gonna help manage it.
It doesn't make it go away forever,
but it helps manage it
and can get you off of pain meds, possibly.
- So what do you feel, Brad, when you turn this on?
- Well, it's interesting because you turn it on
and it's nice that you,
once you do it,
it'll start to feel like pins and needles-
- [Bob] Right.
- it's kind of interesting.
- [Bob] It's a low electrical stimulation.
- Right, it's very low current.
It's not gonna hurt you,
but you still wanna get used to it.
And I actually enjoy it.
It's very stimulating to me. - [Bob] You would.
(laughing)
- But okay, we're gonna show what it actually does, Brad.
Wanna grab the board over there?
- Oh, yeah.
I forgot.
Well, Bob took a lot of effort.
- Yeah. - He's he's an artist.
- I'm an artist.
Check it out.
- 10th degree, and you'll see why.
You gotta move your knee, Bob.
- Oh.
- There, just move that.
Oh, there we go, okay.
- So, all right. - Now-
Look at that.
It's a picture of me!
(chuckling)
- So, this represents pain.
- [Brad] Yep.
- Say you took a hammer- - [Brad] Ooh.
- and took it to your finger.
- [Brad] I've done that before.
- [Bob] Now, when you get,
feel pain, it sends a nerve signal-
- [Brad] Yep.
- of the pain up to your brain,
that you're feeling that.
- It's a pretty small brain.
- [Bob] Right, that's a small one.
(chortles) - That means it is you.
- I understand.
- So when you stimulate using a TENS unit,
it actually stimulates a nerve path
that actually can cut off that pain pathway.
- How about if I erase it?
- That would do, too.
- Yeah, so we got an open circuit-
- Right. - basically.
- So it's called the gate theory,
but it closes the gate.
- Yeah, I remember this in school,
and you know,
they go through in detail,
but we don't need are bore 'em with the details.
- Right, second thing it might do,
it might stimulate endorphins.
- [Brad] Oh.
- You know that, those drugs that make you feel good?
- But the natural ones-
- Right, natural ones.
- [Bob] that your body produces and stimulates.
- So, I mean,
I think we could say overall, Brad,
it's very safe.
- Oh yeah.
- I mean, it's way safer than opioids-
- Oh, right.
- or some type of pain medication.
- Right, yep, yeah.
- So, it's really worth a try
if you are on long-term medication.
- Right.
- Now, if you just suddenly have pain,
you should try other things first.
Try other "Bob and Brad" videos.
- Right.
You know, even a cold pack, but-
- [Bob] Right. - you know, like Bob said,
if you were on something,
chronic pain medication- - [Bob] Right.
- you wanna get off the pain meds,
and your doctor hasn't mentioned this,
you can mention it to your doctor and say,
"How about a TENS unit?"
- [Bob] Right.
- And they'll say, "Oh yeah, that might be the ticket."
- So Brad's gonna turn it on so you can see.
This, by the way,
let's hit our giveaway, Brad.
- Oh, yes!
- Hit it.
- Our giveaway today is the TENS unit.
Is that good?
- Yeah, well, we already were playing the song, but-
- Oh, yeah, that's right.
- We're doing this- - Yeah, it is the TENS unit.
- Yeah, just go to our website-
- bobandbrad.com in the Giveaway section.
- Go to the Giveaway section.
You can sign up and get one of these for free.
- So this is the 8080 model.
It's our favorite model.
It's very simple,
plus it recharges.
- Well, you gotta plug it in to recharge it.
- Right.
- (chuckles) Yeah.
- [Bob] But it doesn't need a battery.
- Right, and it lasts,
I don't know how many hours,
but it's a nice deal. - Right.
And it can come with two leads.
- [Brad] Yeah. - [Bob] This is one lead.
So you can do another lead,
so you can get two more are pads on there.
- So, and they'll give you some extra pads.
I would take these two pads,
if I needed,
like I have pain going down my arm,
let's say I had pain in my knee,
and I wanted to put that on my knee.
I mean, I don't know if that would happen,
but you could,
if essentially,
do two separate locations.
- Yeah, very simply,
quite often, you just put the,
you start by putting the pads around,
surround the painful area.
- Right, exactly.
- So Brad's gonna turn it on.
- Oh, there we go.
So I've got it on,
and we're just gonna go ahead and,
hit channel one because that's what I'm on.
Now, I'm slowly turning up the intensity
and I can feel tingling, you know,
from here, from this lead to this lead,
that's where the current is traveling.
Very small amount of current.
- What I like about the iReliev models, Brad,
is they have really good instructions that come with 'em.
- Sure, yeah, yep. - [Bob] On how to use it.
- And once you get used to it, you know.
- [Bob] Yeah, it's simple.
- So I can feel that the tingling,
and I'm gonna go up a little more, now.
If you go up too high,
and it's still comfortable for me,
but if you've never experienced this,
you might take a little while,
but once you get used to it,
then it's like, oh, that's not a surprise.
Now-
- I'm gonna go over some of the precautions, Brad,
while you're-
- I'm getting some muscle contraction, Bob.
- Right.
- So when you get to that point,
you've probably had too much.
You wanna back off for a little bit, but-
- By the way, this muscle,
this unit is obviously EMS.
So it actually can be used to contract muscle.
- Right.
If you wanna do it that-
- Electrical muscle stimulator.
- yep, and a lot of times, people-
- It's got two settings.
- people with sports-
- Yeah, it's making you do that, right, Brad?
- yeah, yeah, it's doing that,
and I can fight it, but yeah.
So right now I,
this would be good pain management for me
if I did have that arm pain.
- All right, so I'm gonna go over some precautions about.
First off, if you're gonna use a TENS unit,
you should probably have your doctor order it,
so you know it's appropriate for you.
Do not leave the electrodes in place too long a time
without checking and cleaning the skin below,
'cause it could get a rash.
- Right, exactly.
Yeah, like if you have a pacemaker,
you are completely-
- Right.
- not a candidate for a TENS unit, for sure.
And there's other precautions.
- Yeah, don't put these on broken skin.
Don't drive. - Right.
- If you're pregnant, you know, that kinda thing.
- And do not use it in the shower.
- Obviously (guffaws).
- You think so, but-
- Yeah, that's true. - or the bathtub.
You wanna be safe.
But it is a good idea to get it at doctor's orders.
See a therapist, they'll set you up with it.
You can review our videos before or after it,
if you can't remember.
And they work out well.
- This is a good time to say
we actually have a whole program
on TENS units. - [Brad] Yeah.
- If you go to bobandbrad.com,
go to the Programs section,
you'll find a whole program on TENS.
- Right, he'd said that pretty fast.
It's our website, bobandbrad.com.
And yeah, I don't know, like 10, 20 different-
- Videos.
- scenarios on where to place these-
- Where to place it-
- [Both] and how use this, yup.
- Exactly.
- It's all there.
Thanks for watching.
- Good luck.
(musical beats)