The TENS Blog

There is no hard and fast rule for the length of time for which TENS is applied – personal preference is the best guide.

Some people use their TENS for 15 minutes before they get out of bed in the morning, others use it all day and night to relieve severe, chronic pain. Its our strong opinion however (based on much experience), that treatment times of at least 1-2 hours should be used to achieve the most effective outcome. This is why we call our TENS, Sustained Mobile TENS.

Rule of Thumb

Try using your TENS for one hour, then turn it off and see how long the pain relief lasts. Re-apply the TENS for another dose of one hour when pain levels start to increase. Using this method, you will receive the exact dosage you require for adequate pain relief for your particular injury or condition. If you find you don’t receive adequate pain relief with a one-hour dose, apply the TENS for two hours and use the same system as above.

Please also note that you cannot overuse (our) Sustained Mobile TENS and you cannot harm yourself from doing so.

Pre-emptive Doses

Often times, people with chronic pain will know when their next bout of pain is likely to occur, and this being the case, they can apply a 1-2 hour dose of TENS before the onset of the pain. In this way, pain can be minimised or even avoided altogether.

For those with long-term pain from chronic conditions, breaking the pain cycle like this often enough can lead to a permanent reduction in overall pain levels (known as ‘unlearning’ pain). This is a complex mechanism that is poorly understood, but it involves the brain learning new neural pathways which excludes the pain).

3L Stimulation

Many TENS users have tried this particular method with great success. It is particularly useful for those with chronic, painful conditions like arthritis. In fact, many people use this setting while in bed, finding it very useful for helping them get to sleep. 3L stands for LOW pulse rate, LOW intensity and LONG duration of use. Set the rate dial to ‘L’, the intensity dial to a level where you can just feel the pulses tingling (around 2 on the dial), and use the TENS for at least two hours at a time. Re-apply as necessary.