The TENS unit was the number one thing that got me back on my feet when I was in a wheel chair unable to walk or stand at all. It gave me more relief than any pain meds ever did. It was less effective once my pain spread and covered a larger area...but I still use it for flare ups. For me...it worked best if I was able to surround the area of the pain with the electrodes (like when I have bone crushing pain in one particular spot). Another good thing I did was get an ultrasound heat therapy unit off Amazon. The deep heat really helped before any kind of physical therapy and then we did stim at the end. The combination worked great at PT so I got a unit for home and I use that almost every day.