TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation)

This methodology relies upon a small pulsating current of electricity to basically confuse the nerve impulses going up the spinal cord to the brain. It is possibly functioning on the same level as acupuncture, the effect of which is poorly understood and explained; however, in some people it works. What probably is happening is that a small amount of stimulation is carried in the fast fibers that carry information to the brain related to the position of the body, touch, and vibration. These fibers' connections have a hierarchy of order in which they pass on to the brain as if there were a "gate" that only lets one nerve impulse at a time pass through. This is called the gating theory of pain proposed by Melzack and Wall. It explains why when a person slams their knee into an object, it helps to rub it when one would logically assume that further stimulation of damaged tissue would increase the pain. The rubbing stimulates sensory nerve impulses which seem to beat the pain impulses to the "gate;" and the pain is reduced when the pain impulses do not travel up the spinal cord to the brain. I have found that, initially, it can help the pain; but, after awhile, the nervous system accommodates to the electrical impulses and the pain breaks through. Therefore, they may help in an acute situation for a short time, but do not look to these devices for anything approaching long-term relief in the presence of a disc herniation.

Further Reading

Introduction
TENS (Transcutaneous Electrucal Nerve Stimulation)
Ice and Heat
Acupuncture
Trigger Point Point Injections
Epidural Steroid / Aneshetic Injections
Chemonucleolysis
Surgery
Percutaneous Diskectomy
Microdiskectomy
Laminectomy
Artificial Discs
Fusion

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