The TENS Blog

TENS and electrical acupuncture both provide therapy for pain management by electrically stimulating the same body structures, but they use a differing way to explain the manner in which they work. Acupuncture uses an ancient Chinese theory, while TENS uses modern anatomical, physiological and pharmaceutical knowledge.

The machines that apply pulsed electrical potential therapy vary in the way they are applied to the body.

Acupuncture

With acupuncture, needles are used to pass the electrical stimulus through the skin. Because the stimulating electrical charges are delivered via a needle, there is no resistance to their passage to the nerve, allowing higher potentials to be delivered.

Acupuncture equipment does not require a high level of electrical circuitry design. TENS equipment may be used for acupuncture, but it must be applied at very low voltage, and generally they do not provide enough active leads. “Split” leads can be purchased from some TENS suppliers however.

TENS

Contrastingly, TENS therapy is applied by using skin surface TENS electrodes that pass the electrical stimulus via the skin to the nerves. With skin contact electrodes there’s a high level of skin resistance during the passage into the body, so the pulse charges delivered have to be at a higher voltage potential in order to pass through the skin.

Skin contact electrodes with large surface areas are required with TENS equipment to prevent the dispersion of the energy deep within the body and to ensure the stimulation remains comfortable.

When small electrodes are used, the user will often find sensation caused by the stimulation to be uncomfortable and “prickly”.

Much higher levels of microelectronics design is required for Sustained Mobile TENS units to ensure a compact and unobtrusive size for carrying around and still have the therapeutic efficacy of clinical models, so they’re suitable for home and mobile use.

The smaller and more comfortable the TENS unit, the longer the treatment can be sustained over extended periods and the better the results for the user. So in this way, Sustained Mobile TENS is exactly like acupuncture, but instead of needles, you use stick on electrodes.

Nothing could be simpler and you don’t need someone else to do it for you. So it begs the question – why on earth would anyone want to lay around with needles stuck in them when they can use stick on electrodes and go about their day while treating themselves?

Which one would you choose?