# Tens Machine - Anyone have experience of using one?



## islandspirit (14 July 2011)

My vet has recommended that I use a TENS machine on my horses back. He had KS surgery and the right hand side of the back is struggling to regain muscle mass as quickly as the left. I've bought a human TENS machine but just wanted any hints and tips that you may have. What typre of setting should I use? Where to apply the pads? How high a setting? etc...


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## BigRed (14 July 2011)

When my physio loaned me one for my own use, she said to wind the setting up, as I felt necessary.  I was using it because of back pain.  Obviously your horse can't tell you if he likes the sensation, or finds it unpleasant, so I'd be inclined to start the session set to minimal and slowly increase the power, it is not an unpleasant feeling, but it stings if you wind it up too high.  Obviously I don't know how a horse would respond to it, so I'd be careful, you don't want him overreacting.  

I would guess you apply the pads to the area of muscle you want to act on.

I am not sure how a tens machine would improve muscle mass, I thought they were for pain management.


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## YasandCrystal (14 July 2011)

A Tens machine is for pain management. Interestingly I had a physio to my horse who has SI dyfunction/problem and because his condition is chronic she wants to do several sessions of neuro ectrical stimulation using nodes on his wither and quarters to stimulate the nerves to those wasted muscles. Maybe this is what your vet meant? It is like a faradic machine (the old slendertone machines).


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## FestiveBoomBoom (14 July 2011)

YasandCrystal said:



			A Tens machine is for pain management. Interestingly I had a physio to my horse who has SI dyfunction/problem and because his condition is chronic she wants to do several sessions of neuro ectrical stimulation using nodes on his wither and quarters to stimulate the nerves to those wasted muscles. Maybe this is what your vet meant? It is like a faradic machine (the old slendertone machines).
		
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^^^ This

TENS and Muscle stim units can look very similar, infact identical if made by the same company but they do have different applications. TENS for pain relief and muscle stim for building muscle mass and strength particularly disuse atrophy following injury/surgery etc. I would ask your vet what the goal is, pain management or increasing muscle strength? Some vets may not even know the difference between the 2 modalities!


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## islandspirit (14 July 2011)

My vet wants to stimulate the neural pathways to kick start the muscle. The muscle should cone back eventually on its own but because only the right side is slow to build up he feels that the Tens would help. I am also lunging in a pessoa 5 times a week over poles.


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## AshTay (14 July 2011)

My friend uses one on her horse on recommendation from a chiro.

She uses ultrasound gel to "stick" the pads on and then uses an elastic surcingle to hold the machine on the horses back so she doesn't have to stand there for 30 mins at a time. She ties him up with a haynet and he's quite happy (she keeps an eye on him at all times).

I would recommend asking the vet to show you exactly where you should use it. Also, if doing both sides of the back you might want to look for a machine with two channels so you can both sides together - all depends on where it's needed.

As someone above said, play with the setting to see how high your horse is comfortable with.


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## Lynz25 (14 July 2011)

You can set most TENS up on either a pain relief setting or for muscle stimulation.  The latter was used on my horse after his kissing spine surgery.  Buy one from body clock rather than going to Boots or any other pharmacy as you will pay much more.  You need to buy one that you can change the pulse width and rate this is the one that I'd recommend:  http://www.bodyclock.co.uk/acatalog/First_Choice_Plus.html
You will need to get the rubber electrodes rather than the stick on ones along with ultrasound gel.  Speak to the vet and find out where he wants to be stimulated.  Sponge down the area on the horse that you are going to put the pad, apply the ultrasoud gel to the pad and then gently circle the pad on the gel so it gets tacky, it would then stay there.  Mine used to love his sessions, although he did get a shock once when I accidently turned the control the wrong way. plus I got a leather  massage pad and massaged the areas which he used to love.  Hope this helps


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## popularfurball (14 July 2011)

The difference between the faraday and the tens are simply the pulsing settings available - as mentioned above tens is for pain management. You need to be able to generate a twitch in the muscle (visible) to develop muscle masswhich if I remember rightly requires a high intensity, but low frequency.


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## Lynz25 (14 July 2011)

popularfurball said:



			The difference between the faraday and the tens are simply the pulsing settings available - as mentioned above tens is for pain management. You need to be able to generate a twitch in the muscle (visible) to develop muscle masswhich if I remember rightly requires a high intensity, but low frequency.
		
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A TENS can do both pain relief and muscle stimulation as as long as you buy one that has the ability to change the pulse width and frequency.  Places like Boots, local pharmacys and Argos tend to just have the basic ones for pain relief only.

I am just searching the house for my old physio notes as to the parameters to set it up correctly.

You need to put it on the modulation mode which reduces the nerves accommodation to the treatment, freqy will be between 35 - 50Hz, the width is between 175 - 200uS.  You want a nice contraction of the muscle not too strong as the muscle will fatique.  Start at a low level and gradually increase as needed.  The knob on the top I used to start slowly and build it up, I never needed to go above 3 on this machine.


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## islandspirit (14 July 2011)

B****r! I just bought one from boots! Although I can't change the frequencies it does go muscle stimulation as well. I applied 2 pads equi distant along the longitudinal dorsi


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## islandspirit (14 July 2011)

Sorry, trying to use an iPhone to write on the forum! As I was saying, I've placed the pads on his back but the shoulder is twitching and not the back. Now very confused as to where to place them to get the correct muscle to contract??? He'll end up looking like a patchwork quilt at this rate!


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## Lynz25 (14 July 2011)

Hehe mine used to do that.  I just put them on the rump / down towards the hind leg.  It can be due to teh position of the pads because of the muscle attachments and due to the nervous supply being stimulated and what other musles it connects with.  I used to move my pads round quite a bit.  Word of warning don't do it too much first of all as my horse got very sore initially, used to do Tens every 4 days for about 10-20 mins then would do the massage before lunging which used to warm the muscles up.  Lots of pessoa work and work in a de gogue or side reins as well.


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## Lynz25 (14 July 2011)

Also as you do more with the horse eg cantering / jumping reduce the time you are doing it for.  Mine flared up when we started doing more as I didn't reduce the time


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## popularfurball (15 July 2011)

I was thinking I should dig out my old physio notes too - we had a combined tens machine at uni - but as you say most commercially available machines are for pain relief. 

Op try it on yourself to see if you can get the muscle twitch - I haven't off the boots one - and perhaps the shoulder is a reaction to the weird feeling - like they twitch for flies. 

We always had great amusement at uni putting it along The forearm as it pulls the middle finger up involuntarily hehe


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## horsedreams (15 July 2011)

we bought one from 

http://www.physio-med.com/Deluxe-PMTS-Dual-Channel-TENS.html

(physio recommended it)

our physio lent us hers first for a TB that had muscle wastage in the back 
but she did show us were to place the pads first and set the settings for us

it worked wonders for him if i remember rightly he had one on is rump and one just behind his wither we put surcingle on to hold case in place 

i would  ask your physio to demonstrate were to place the pads then you know exactly that you are working the correct muscles


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## debby1 (15 July 2011)

If you are unsure where to put the pads and what frequency etc, get a equine physio to come out and show you, or your vet
I used my tens on my horse for KS and he loved it, but it was set up correctly for him by the physio


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## YasandCrystal (15 July 2011)

debby1 said:



			If you are unsure where to put the pads and what frequency etc, get a equine physio to come out and show you, or your vet
I used my tens on my horse for KS and he loved it, but it was set up correctly for him by the physio
		
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^^this else you could do more harm than good. The pads need to to be at the wither and one at the quarters - it can take a long time to see the quarters muscle even quiver if the injury is chronic. My physio said some horses it can take 20 mins to see the first twitch./ You should try on the sound side first to guage the intensity for a healthy muscle twitch


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## FestiveBoomBoom (15 July 2011)

You will need to position the pads over the motor points of the muscles that you want to target. Prob best to have a physio come out and show you


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## vita (8 August 2011)

does this do the same as the PULSED ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD THERAPY & MASSAGE RUG  do you or anyone know?


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## PooJay (8 August 2011)

I'm using one on my beastie atm, recommended by my physio as she has some atrophy on the shoulder. Been using it for just over a week and my girl loves it (surprisingly as she's a sensitive soul) and falls asleep whilst it's on!  

I would ask phsio/vet to be with you the first time you use it so you can see where you need to put it on and how much pulsing you need to see from the muscle, i was nervous putting it on for the first time as i guess every pone reacts differently. 

It's pain relief and for muscle stimulation. If you think about it it's just the muscle tensing and releasing very quickly over and over. Like exercise but with no stress on the joint etc. (like the ab crunching exercise machines from the 80's) 

Oh and you can use water based lubricating jelly (KY Jelly) to stick the pads....although i did get some funny looks when i went and bought it in bulk last week


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## PooJay (8 August 2011)

vita said:



			does this do the same as the PULSED ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD THERAPY & MASSAGE RUG  do you or anyone know?
		
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Definitely not.


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## Elf On A Shelf (8 August 2011)

You can get ones specifically designed for horses, I can't for the life of me remember their name but Peter Bowen highly recommends then so if you google search him they should come up. In racing they are used for the rebuilding and strengthening of torn tendons. But they can also be used for muscles. I use them at work - for back work the pad gets placed about 2 in down from the wither and it's matching pair gets placed about 2in diagonal down from the top of the dock. I use them in pairs so the other side of the horse is wired up the same. The other place I put them on horses that are pulling out stiff or have had a fall etc. is on the shoulder. 3 - 4 in down from the wither to just above the front leg, again both sides to match.


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## karen.close (8 August 2011)

I'm using one as of tomorrow for my lad, fingers crossed it works because I'm running out of options .....


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## islandspirit (9 August 2011)

Thanks for all the replies, I thought I'd give you a quick update. I had the physio out about a week and a half ago and so far the results are great. Unfortunately I'd bought the wrong sort of TENS machine so do get advice before buying one, you need to be able to set the width and rate yourself and not buy one with pre set programmes. Interestingly, Spirits top line is coming along nicely on both sides apart from one section of his back from wither to just in line with where the back of the saddle would sit on the right hand side, which is visibly sunken. The physio has placed one pad just behind the wither and the second is inline with the middle process he had removed which causes the whole sunken area to contact. I think the rear part of the area is most damage though as initially the muscle contaction wasn't as strong here. Spirit seems to tollerate the sessions rather than love them but the difference in a week and a half is apparent and the back is slowly becommiming more symetrical. I have to use the TENS every day for 20 minutes and turn it up until there is a nice steady visual contraction. A couple of usefull hints from the physio is to wet the whole area before placing the pads and also to soak the pads in water before you use them, plus use the gel, this will give the best possible current. I was panicking about the fact that the ultra sound gel was running out but shall be taking a trip to Boots to buy KY jelly in the bucket loads! I only wish that we had started the TENS sooner as I might be back on board by now had I known about it.


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## happy_talk (12 November 2011)

Hi- hoping to ressurect this thread!
I have just bought a tens machine as advised above. I want to use it on the gluteal muscle on my horse. She has had physio treatment before using this sort of thing, but I have never asked as to how to do it myself. I've watched her do it a couple of times and it's had amazing results. Unfortunately the treatment was under an insurance claim so don't think we'll be going back for more now the "alternative" treatment money has run out. I can feel that one side of her is tense/tight gluts compared to the other. Can anyone give me an idea as to what setting width/frequency, to start on and what to aim to increase it to?
Many thanks!


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## gunnergundog (12 November 2011)

happy_talk said:



			Can anyone give me an idea as to what setting width/frequency, to start on and what to aim to increase it to?
Many thanks!
		
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No....noone can unless they have seen your horse and are qualified to give such advice.  

Would suggest that you contact the physio that you have used before and who knows your horse and ask for her advice.  There are too many variables for anyone else to give input.


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## happy_talk (12 November 2011)

thanks- will contact her on monday.


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## gunnergundog (12 November 2011)




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## Mince Pie (12 November 2011)

Can I suggest that those people who need advice get inn touch with Petra Sones. She is my back lady and this is pretty much exactly what she does, only she calls it electro magnetic pulse therapy. Petrasones@gmail.com


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## almorton (12 November 2011)

Tens is NOT electromagnetic pulse therapy! 
it is transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and should be used with caution as it affects the pain response of a nerve!!

your best bet is a qualified physio or vet. or at least talk to the physio who treated your horse previously please!


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## happy_talk (13 November 2011)

thanks, but I have every faith in my ACPAT physio who knows my horse and her veterinary history. I would get her to treat my horse in the first instance, but not cheap without insurance help as need to hire transport for horse as well as treatment charge. I will however, try to contact her and see what she advises.


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## FIT4POLO (16 April 2012)

Hi All 
This is just a message to set the record straight: I am Petra Sones and a fully trained practitioner using Faradic Impulse Therapy (mainly dealing with polo ponies) using the latest version of the equipment first introduced by Sir Charles Strong in the 40s and results published in the Veterinary Recorder of 1963 which does in no way compare to a TENS machine. A TENS machine interrupts the pain signal from nerve to brain and should not be used other than for short term relief! In inexperienced hands all equipment is likely to cause if not actual damage certainly stress to the horse and possibly injury to the operator! Please do not experiment with any machines until and unless you have discussed this with a Vet or qualified physiotherapist!


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