TENS placement

[sly]

I read somewhere in a post about placement of the pads somewhere other than the abdominal area (like on the calf and maybe lower back) but now I can't find it. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Pain Center prescribed the unit and rather than purchasing it I borrowed one from a relative to try. Since it is not their unit the Pain ctr. is hesitant to offer any alternative ways to use it. I just don't want to buy one before I know if it works for me.

[Bee]

My mom use to use one of those things for her back....it was these sticky pads that connected to a battery pack and you controled it. Once I had a bad kink in my neck..I couldn't even turn my neck..I put on her TENS unit and it worked great! I could turn my neck all day with no pain....I was just thinking about that the other day....why wouldn't that work on our bladder if we put the sticky pads on our pelvic area??? It should increase the pain..right? My mom got hers through her specialist. I'm gonna ask her about it.

[liz2]

For the TENS unit, I sometimes cluster all pads around the bladder area. Other times I put a pad just above each leg (but still on the stomach) and the other two in the bladder area. Other times, instead of the leg area, I'll put pads almost on my side where my IC pain tend to fan out--still I keep two (a red and and black lead) directly over the bladders. Just try working from your bladder and follow the pain line(s).

When my pain seems to go all the way through my body to my back, I place the pads very low down on my back on either side of my spine. I try to draw an imaginary line through my body from the bladder to my back, so that I get the alignment. I sometimes keep two pads around (not on) the spine area and place the other two on each "rear cheek."

When the pain seems to go down my back legs, I will occasionally shift a pad to the part of my leg that joins the buttock, but usually you can relieve that pain from a trigger point that is higher up.

If you start pressing a little on your bladder, believe me, you can follow the pain line and locate other trigger points than just your bladder. But I always try to keep at least two pads very close to the bladder, as that is the point of origin for the pain.

[rjyoon]

I wore a TENS for two straight years (not a good idea, because I became sensitized to the tape adhesive -- should've used a good skin barrier), and was fortunate enough to find a P.T./acupuncturist to help me with electrode placement. I wore one pair suprapubically (one dead center, the other about two inches to the left -- if it's too far left the sensation goes down the leg) and the other pair on the inside of my left calf, although it wouldn't matter which leg. One electrode was three fingers-width up from the ankle, and the other was in a straight line up, about three fingers down from the fold on the back of the knee. This follows Chinese acupuncture points.

I found a great deal of relief with TENS, and only stopped due to skin care problems. Take care of your skin! Now I use New Skin spray as a skin barrier before applying electrodes, and a healing salve once I take them off. I still revert back to TENS when things are bad.