HOME TENS UNIT AND ELECTRODES FOR NECK PAIN
Think of a home TENS unit as a pocket-size, battery-powered stimulator: its sticky electrode pads give the same pain-easing tingle you feel in the clinic, whether you are at home or at work between visits. For neck pain, the pads go on the back of the neck and the tops of the shoulders, never on the front of the neck.
Your physician orders this item. We fit it to you and show you how to use it before you take it home.
How does it help?
It turns down pain signals when your neck flares at the desk, in the car as a passenger, or at night before bed. That can keep you moving and cut down how much pain medicine you reach for. It works the same way as TENS in the clinic.
How should it feel?
A firm buzz under the pads that stays comfortable. If it hurts, turn it down. Your physician writes the setting, the length of each session and how many per day.
How do you place and care for the electrodes?
Choose clean, dry skin near the sore spot, and keep the pads at least 1 inch apart. Store them on their plastic sheet between uses. When a pad stops sticking, replace it; a pad that only half sticks can sting.
When should you stop and call?
- Keep pads off the front of the neck, away from the eyes, off the chest and off broken skin
- Do not use it behind the wheel, around machinery, in bed asleep, or in water
- A pacemaker, an implanted stimulator or a pregnancy means no home unit until your physician says it is safe
- Stop and call if the skin under the pads turns red or looks burned, if you get lightheaded, or if your heart starts pounding
How long does it take?
Use it as your physician ordered.
You get written instructions and you show us you can use it before you leave. Call (314) 886-5892 if it hurts, does not fit or breaks.
What to remember
- Clean, dry skin, and a 1-inch gap between pads.
- Not in the car, not in bed, not in the tub.
- Red or burned skin under a pad means stop and call.
Show us you have it: Stick the pads on your neck, switch the unit on and pick your mode while we watch. At your next visit we go over it again, and we are glad to repeat any step you want to see twice.
Other equipment we fit
This is one part of our physiotherapy program for neck pain. Every treatment here is ordered and overseen by a physician who has examined your neck, and none begins until a physician is on site and ready to step in at once.
Have it fitted and explained in person
We size it, show you how to use it, and watch you do it yourself before you leave.
12174 Natural Bridge Rd, Suite 302
St. Louis, MO 63044
Next to DePaul Hospital, just off the 270 and 70 junction, west of the airport.