hey everybody, it's doctor jo and today i'm going to show you how to use the tens unit
for sciatic pain. so let's get started.
so before we get started, if you haven't already, make sure and click on the subscribe
button because that helps my channel grow. today i'm going to use the iReliev tens ems wireless
unit which is really nice, and i'll talk about it a little bit more later. so the important thing to
know about sciatic pain is sciatic pain can come from two different places. it can actually come
from your spine, or it can come from your purif piriformis piriformis muscle compressing the nerve
there. so if it's coming from your spine at l4 to s3 those are the areas that sciatic nerve comes
out, it comes out kind of in a wave, and then it becomes one big one that goes then down the back
of your booty to the back of your leg. so when it comes back through the pelvic area, that's where
it can get compressed at the piriformis. and it's important to know where your pain is coming from
because if you're going to use that tens the tens unit for relief, you need to know: do i need
to put it on my back to get that relief, or do i need to put it on the piriformis muscle area to
get relief. so that's why it's really important to know. the main one i'm going to show you today
is if it was coming from my back like if it was getting compressed by a disc herniation, or maybe
stenosis, or some degeneration. so that's just to remember something to remember. so the cool thing
about the wireless iReliev tens ems unit is it's wireless. especially when you're putting things
on your back or an area that's not just so easy to get to, not having wires to worry about makes
it really really nice. also what's really cool about the ireliev unit is it has 14 different
modes. and so it has for pain control, it has one for arthritis, and then it also has one for muscle
conditioning or recovery. so we're going to use the tens one today. like i said i don't recommend using
the ems the electrical muscle stimulation where you're actually contracting the muscle
on your back. therapists might use it on your back, but the you have to be a lot more specific than
just kind of placing it on your back. so i wouldn't recommend that unless your therapist has told you
specifically where to put it. so with the wireless, it's nice because you have the bigger pad, which is
two electrodes if it was wired. so you have the two electrodes here, but it's just the one channel.
and i'll talk about the four wired electrodes in a minute. but it makes it nice because these bigger
pads with the tens, you don't have to be exact in your placement, but the big thing to remember
is since it's a little bit lower it's kind of a little bit above where your belt line would be and
a little bit below. so you would just kind of smack them back there, and that's what makes this so
easy that it doesn't have to be something specific like the muscle stimulation or the ems. so i'm just
going to turn this on and the big thing is you really want you want to turn the pods on um really
before, you can do it kind of at the same time, but to get these going you turn those on and then you
turn your unit on here. and then once it comes up you want to make sure you see that little wireless
connection that it's on and that means it's able to talk to those. so again like i said i'm just
gonna really kind of slap them on my low back, and then i'll i'll show you where they are. but i want
to show you with the wireless it's pretty easy to do on your own. if you can have someone else
do it then sometimes they can get a little bit more specific placement, but like i said with the
tens it doesn't particularly have to be exact. so like i said, a little bit below the belt line.
one kind of on each side. so let me show you what i'm talking about. so you can see one was a little
bit lower, one was a little bit higher, like i said unless you're a little ocd, which is fine usually
like me um, i would maybe change it a little bit or have someone change it for me. so then once you
get them on, you can just start increasing the intensity. so with a tens it should always be
strong but comfortable. it should never be painful. so if you're feeling pain, or if you're starting
to get some contractions especially on the back, you don't want that sustained contraction.
you really don't even want much of a contraction when it's on your back or your neck area because
since the channels would be crossing the spine for the wired ones, you don't want it to be pulling and
going back and forth. you just want to feel the comfort level. so since there's a couple
different settings for tens, i always tell people just try each one and see which one you like best.
what i like best and what works for me might be different for you. so again you can take this in
to one of your physical therapy sessions and have your therapist kind of figure it out with
you, and they might tell you a specific setting that they want for your recovery which is fine,
but for me, i usually tell my patients if you like this one it's for pain control and if it makes it
feel better, that's what you want, so use that one. so that's kind of how it works. you can go into
some specifics of it if you want to and know how much the wave forms and all those are, but to me
you're trying to get pain control, so just use whatever works best for you.
so if you're using a wired tens unit which iReliev also has, a lot of times it's different
because if you're using your tens you'll have four electrodes for the two channels. so
for each channel, the one channel there's two electrodes. and like i said for the larger wireless
there's the two electrodes on the one channel. so it makes it a little bit different because
you have the actual four electrodes. so how am i going to show you these four electrodes?
i know dr. mo musselstein is going to graciously be a model so you can see the back. so it's a little
bit easier to show you this way than on myself, or it's more fun to show you on dr. mo musclestein.
here would be the back about at the l4 level all the way down to s3 into that sacrum. that's where
the sciatic nerve comes out, goes down into the bottom area where you might feel that
pain down into the leg. so if i was using the four electrodes, the one channel that has two electrodes,
i'd put maybe one here, and then one kind of just below that belt line on the booty area.
and so that'd be channel one, and then one here and one here would be channel two. so you have
that cross pattern that's what you're looking for. and and mo yeah it's okay i can show them
the piriformis, yeah? so if you were going if you had your sciatic pain from the piriformis muscle,
this is your big glute muscle underneath. you have then your piriformis muscle here. and you can see
that yellow that's your sciatic nerve. so the muscle is then pushing on that sciatic nerve. so
this is your piriformis right here it's underneath, and then it comes out. so if you're having the pain
from that maybe sitting for a long time. you could either place the the large pad for the
wireless kind of over the booty area. or i would say since it's a little bit smaller area, you would
just use the two electrodes for the one channel. and you could either put it above and below, or
you could put it horizontally. but you just want it to kind of cross that area of pain. again remember
with the tens unit it doesn't have to be exact, you're just trying to get those patterns, those
channels when they're talking to each other, to be in the general area of pain. so that would be
where it would be if you were looking at getting some pain relief for your piriformis muscle. so
there you have it. that's how to use a tens unit to relieve sciatic pain. if you're interested in
purchasing the iReliev tens ems wireless unit, click on the link up there, and don't forget to
subscribe by clicking down there. and remember be safe, have fun, and i hope you feel better soon.