Originally Posted by birchlake

Thought I would give you an update on my Sensus TENS unit. I've been using it now for about 6 weeks. See picture below. Tens stands for Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation. TENS machines works by sending stimulating pulses across the surface of the skin and along the nerve strands. The physiological principle is that excitation of normal nerves reduces transmission of pain signals to the brain. This unit is most popular with diabetics that suffer from painful diabetic neuropathy.

The unit is well designed and I've found it easy to use. Simply insert a gel based electrode (replace them about every 2 weeks depending on how much you use it), wrap it around your leg, attach with velcro straps and press the on button. It's small/thin size allows you to wear it under your pants. It's the only TENS unit that is FDA cleared for use during sleep.

It runs for an hour and then automatically shuts off. On first use, you "characterize" it to your body and the power level you feel comfortable with. At any time, you can either increase or decrease the power. At any time, you can stop the unit. You can even set it on "continuous mode", where it runs for an hour, is off for an hour, then runs for an hour. The continuous mode is what you would use during sleep.

I find it most valuable to use it later in the day when my the pain level in my foot is always higher, or when I'm having a flare. I can't honestly say that it substantially reduces the pain level that I am experiencing, but I will say that it distracts me from the CRPS pain and the feeling of the electrical current changes my perception of my CRPS pain and makes it more tolerable.

Best part is that my insurance completely covered the cost of it after I met with my primary CRPS doctor and he verified that it is of value to me in managing chronic pain.

Please understand that this unit has absolutely no curative value and doesn't make that claim; it simply is another "tool in the toolbox" to manage my CRPS pain. Tens seems to work for some people with chronic pain, but may not work at all for others and may even aggravate your condition, so results vary widely from what I've seen. But the way I look at it, the more tools we have to help manage this condition, the better off we are. Gotta throw everything including the kitchen sink at CRPS!