[boytos]

How much ?

what about lidoderm patch and Low Level Laser Therapy ?

[bunz50]

Originally Posted by boytos

How much ?

what about lidoderm patch and Low Level Laser Therapy ?

Good morning boytos, I use my Tens machine daily, since I have a titanium plate I can no longer use it on my neck, but I use it on my arms, mid/lower back and my scalene/scapular muscles I find it does help with the muscle spasms, I also have laser therapy twice weekly and massage once a week (I go to physio)which is suppose to help with inflamation but I do not see or feel I get results as my scalene muscles, biceps and scapular muscles are very tight and bulge(you can see and feel the bulges) sorry I have never used lidoderm patch. If you have a chance to try a tens machine go for it, just adjust the machine slowly as it does give you a jolt if not careful, hope this helps. Bunz

[Jomar]

TENS info-
http://www.drugs.com/cg/how-to-use-a-tens-unit.html

TENS is a method of electrical stimulation which primarily aims to provide a degree of symptomatic pain relief by exciting sensory nerves and thereby stimulating either the pain gate mechanism and/or the opioid system.]
http://www.electrotherapy.org/modalities/tens.htm

This page you can find info on many of the various therapies.
http://www.electrotherapy.org/modalities.htm

[DiMarie]

I have one TENS only I can use. The others feel like bee stings. This one is by Reli Med. There is a pulsing massaging effect, several setting. $75 on the website. The p doc had a rep there to promo but they wanted $150 and did not take insurance....scam to me.

It was the best investment I made. For my traps, and my lower back.

google relimed tens or reliamed

[mspennyloafer]

havent tried tens, is there a place where i could return one if i didnt like it? also you cant use the unit near your heart right?

laser didn't work for me but i think my sx are a bit different than the avg toser

lido patch helps with my back of shoulder area but thats it

[mspennyloafer]

my pt hasnt offered to use ANY machines on me

its pretty irritating i dont understand why not

[Jomar]

[[my pt hasnt offered to use ANY machines on me]]


Have you seen any e stim machines in the place?
Not even any ultra sound?

What are they (PT) doing for you?
heat pads, hands on massage?


I suggest finding someplace with IF stim if you can - interferential stim.

TENS works best for home care and use esp if nerve pain.

You can usually try it at a PT or chiro place - to see if it helps but I wouldn't pay for regular sessions for only a TENs, but if it does help then see about buying your own with ins or not - the prices are coming down.

same with IF stim - you can get your own too.

some might require a drs OK
check prices/reviews on the internet

[mspennyloafer]

sry lazy typing here

US only works on me if its turned up REALLY REALLY high not sure why that is tho? so ive been to two places one did it the right way aka high, the other i said turn it up high and didnt feel a darn thing

pt worked on my neck some but that's only bc i had to nag him for it.. massage got rid of one huge trgr pt. i do not understand he can do dry needling and only said he "might" do it on me? i'm not even sure if they have stim machines, i will call and ask. ive only been 2x and the entire time he was strengthening my rotator cuffs. my shoulders are both winged, major major atrophy on one side and my long thoracic nerve is..? something is wrong with it, and my serratus anterior muscles are NOT there. lol.

ive complained MULTIPLE x that i cannot ever feel my fingers, they are always numb and tired. not one second of normalcy. apparently this place im going to has a rehab clinic too, maybe theyre the ones with the "fancy" machines.

the only thing i can think is that hes looking at me with so much atrophy and just thinking strength train asap.

thats a good idea to try tens out at an office first.

[Jomar]

If nerve compressions or adhesions are the cause of the atrophy strengthening is not going to change anything, i don't think...

I'm not 100% sure at all though , I just seemed to have sticky fascia causing most of my problems, so I don't know how an actual compression might react, we used to have a few posting about atrophy, but they haven't posted in a long time. 1 or 2 did have "clawing" of hand due to direct nerve affected.

The cause has to be addressed and then resolved as best as possible, then maybe strengthening, after pain & sx are mostly gone.

numb & tired fingers make me think of either c spine or TOS nerve sx - the nerve is being affected somewhere.
Or could be a blood flow issue.

Did anyone that seemed to have advanced training do a full evaluation before treating you?

Did they do a compression test -pressing down on your head and some tilting to see if it reproduced any sx?
traction - pulling/lifting your head and some tilting to see if any sx?

did they do the many positional blood flow testing shown on the nismat pages for TOS? I asked about these from one PT and he did do them after I asked about it.
Another PT that I found on my own (as a second opinion) already knew about them all and did them.

To me the place you are going to just sounds so different than the PT places I've been to.
But does sound like some of the places others have posted about.

I was lucky that each time I had to change PT places ( for wc /ins reasons & 1 time because I explained to the dr that the guy there was reading out of a book on how to do stuff - Dr got me out of there fast LOL thank you dr.)
anyway each time I landed in a better place and I learned more along the way.
After awhile you can tell who is doing good work and who isn't.

Mine focused on

1- reduce pain - heat, massage, US,
2 - reduce symptoms - same as above
3 - start isometric exercises as tolerated
4 - start 1 lb weight as tolerated
5 - advance to machines & equipment for more strengthening as tolerated

after each step forward to more exercises - they asked and evaluated how I was responding - if sx or pain increased we took a step back

(now my chiro does US, IF stim & LLLT for me 1 visit a month usually)

[boytos]

How do you respond to swiss ball release ? In short terme ? Long terme ?