hey everybody it's Doctor Jo, and today I'm going to show you how to use the
tens unit to relieve back pain. so let's get started.
And if you haven't already, make sure you subscribe down here. so the
folks at Auvon sent me their tens unit, and ten stands for transcutaneous
electrical nerve stimulation, and that's great because it's a good way to help
relieve that pain without using any kind of medication. so I really like using the
tens unit and I'm going to show you different placements on the back to
really get some good relief. and I should probably use a model for this. Ahhh! There's
Brian! So it's easier to show you what I'm talking about. I will kind of do the low
back, cold hands, a little bit on this side here, maybe the mid back and then up
in the neck area as well. and so for a tens unit, you can cross the spine. if
you're using an actual EMS where you're doing the muscle contraction, you don't
want to cross this part because then you're contracting the muscles pulling
into this spot, but a TENS unit is okay because you shouldn't actually be
contracting the muscles. so a lot of times people have low back pain down
here around their SI joints, but sometimes it's right in the middle. so if
it's middle back pain, like let's say right here on his low back, what you want
to do, the best way for me I think is taking two channels and actually
crossing that X. so this channel has two electrodes, and then this channel has two
electrodes, and they should cross each other so they're making those currents
go into that X. that's what you want. so you don't want a channel on this side
and then a channel on this side because then it's not actually getting that area
of pain. so sorry Brian these are going to be really cold, I would start one low
right here, and then one up a little bit higher here. as you can see and so as far
as getting the distance, the closer together,
it's gonna be a little bit stronger than the further apart. you're just gonna get
more area space so it won't be quite as strong, so I usually say medium you still
want it to be in the general area and then so the other one, here we go sorry
cold again, there and then the other one is going to be right down below about
right here. so then once you turn it on again it's going to cross and it's going
to cross. and you can see I don't have them exact here if you if you're a
little OCD about that you can change it a little bit and then just have it cross
that area again. see the X is a little bit lower but that's still gonna get
that area right there. so if you know if this one would be maybe a little bit
more here and you could just move these down a little bit more passes the belt line
if you wanted to get those. so for that one that's what you would use. and let's
say if it was a little bit further on the side like those erector muscles on
the sides here, and it's really specific maybe he's had some specific pain right
here. I'm gonna take these off, they warmed up for you, and so maybe like
right here's where his pain is so let me withdraw a little X right there.
if he had that, I would probably just go with one channel and just two electrodes
for that. so then what you would want to do is just get them right that spot
right in between it. so one up on top one on the bottom because the muscle goes in
this direction. so you could do it side to side but if you're following the
muscle line, you want it to be there and there. and so then that channel just goes
back and forth right to that specific spot there. so that's that's the way you
can do that as well. now if you want all four you certainly can and then you can
put one right here in here, but I found it it's kind of more of a specific spot
than like a general low back pain, usually just the two channels are better
because it's gonna be a little bit stronger, it's gonna be a little more
concentrated to that spot. so I like that as well.
same thing kind of with the mid-back, that thoracic area. let's say maybe we'll
do one here, where it's not directly on the spine, but it's pretty close. so maybe
he's having some pain right just below his shoulder blade. I would maybe go back
to forth, and then get the whole area. so you're getting some of those muscles
around the shoulder as well. but always remember if you're having some pain kind
of up in this area, and it's a sharp weird pain, and it doesn't really feel
like muscular pain, go get it checked out because this is a referral pain
sometimes of the organs maybe even something like the gallbladder, so if
you're having sharp pain that's just not going away, best thing to do is go talk
to your doctor and get some tests just to make sure everything's okay there. but
so then what I would do is maybe put it here, and then down there a little bit,
and then same kind of thing. then take the other ones cross it here, and then
here. so again this one's going to be a little more general area but then you're
going to get a little bit of the shoulder as well where those muscles
might be, maybe some of those rhomboids around in that area, and then just
getting that good general area here. so again the placement doesn't have to be
exact, so you can do it yourself just kind of slap them on there, but if you
have somebody to do it for you, then that's always great as well. and then the
last one kind of maybe up in his neck area. a lot of people have questions
about placement of the neck because you do need to be a little careful with your
carotid arteries in the front, those vagus nerves are on the side, so let's
say you have some general pain right in here.
maybe usually if it's neck pain maybe it's a little bit on both sides. so what
I would do a lot of times those that and those muscles maybe the levator
scap coming up this way, it's going to cause pain all the way up into that neck
area. of course it's a little bit easier if you have shorter hair, so there's not
some down here but same kind of thing. I'd probably use four, but if you have
you maybe your hair line comes down a little bit, you don't have a lot of space
you could just do going across this way. if you wanted to one channel that way
and then having those off so you could do it that way, or
you could even have a little bit smaller pads, and then do a little cross like
that because you can get different sizes of pads for the tens unit and maybe do
something a little bit more like that. so then it's gonna cross that area in there.
so a lot of different ways to do it you can do just the two electrodes, you can
do four electrodes, so either one channel or two channels, and just play around
with a little bit. a lot of times on the units there's different settings, people
ask me a lot about, hey you know what settings should I use for this specific
thing. a lot of people will tell you use this for the specific thing, use that for
this specific thing, but I personally say whatever feels the best for you because
remember tens is different than the electrical muscular stimulation where
you're trying to activate the muscle, but tens is just to relieve the pain,
following that same pathway as a pain pathway, to get that vibration to calm
down the pain. so whichever one makes it feel better is really the one that you
should use. so let me tell you quickly about the Auvon unit. it's really coo,l I
like it because it's different than most of the other ones. it's more streamlined
it's got the smoother curves, so it fits really really nicely and comfortably in
your pocket. it's also got a little clip right here so if you don't want to put
it in your pocket, you can clip it on to your pants or you can clip it on to the
edge of your pocket, and then just kind of go with it, and you can do your
everyday activities and have it on. it's also pretty neat because it's battery
powered. some of them you just charge in the wall, but all it takes is two triple
A batteries so that's really nice too, that it has a lot of power with just
that. also as you can see when you turn it on, you have just very simple settings.
it's not trying to give you pictures that you have to figure out what you
want, you can just circle through the settings. and so you can just you
know try them and see which one feels best for you, and then you have the more
intensity less intensity and then your timer as well. so there's not a whole lot
of buttons where you have to figure stuff out. sometimes when there's a whole
lot and pictures, and you're trying to figure out which one do I use, it gets a
little confusing, but with this you just do 1 2 3 4 5 so that's that's pretty
cool. you can just test it out and then the one you liking
say, okay I like number two so every time I turn it on I'm gonna go straight to
number two. so I really like that as well. the on/off button on the top just really
easy to turn on and off, and then really easy to do one channel if you want to or
two channels if you want to to get to electrodes are four electrodes. so really
nice really smooth feels feels nice in your hand. so there you have it, that's
how to use a TENS unit to relieve back pain. if you're interested in purchasing
the TENS, make sure you click up here, and don't forget to subscribe by
clicking down here. and remember, be safe, have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.