Dry needling and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENs) therapy can both be used to help with muscle pain, soreness, spasm, atrophy, and weakness. Traditional applications of TENs therapy is to place sticky pads that transmit the electrical impulses to the skin, and into the muscles. Through the use of dry needling and/or acupuncture concepts, TENs therapy can be incorporated with needle applications to provide a deeper application to the muscles being stimulated.

Dr. Reece Hayden recently shared this brief video discussing TENs therapy and muscle stimulation via traditional and dry needle applications. As always, the video transcript is below.

Howdy everybody,

Dr. Hayden here with Synergy Chiropractic of Houston. Today we are going to be talking about interferential current, or electrical muscle stimulation and how it can be beneficial in helping people that have tight muscles or muscle pain. There are different devices that doctors use to help with this.

Most chiropractors will have a large machine that they will use. Some have smaller ones. In our office we have both the large and also little ones like this that we prescribe to our patients to take home with them to be used as needed. These are also helpful if the patient is unable to come in for therapy due to travel.

There are a couple of different ways that these can be used. One of the most common ways is by having these little pads that have little leads that go to the unit to supplies the electricity to the muscles. These are very simple to use. You take them off the plastic and place them around the area of discomfort. For example, the arm. You then turn on the power to the unit and slowly turn it up to the patient’s personal preference. Some people prefer to have it strong, while others like not as strong. What it is basically doing is stimulating the muscles inducing a pain relieving effect in the muscles. This helps them relax reducing pain faster. It also stimulates the healing process.

A lot of the larger units used in muscle stimulation have different categories. There is interferential, high voltage, and Russian. Russian is mainly used for patients who have atrophied muscles. This pulses to stimulate muscle regrowth and strengthening.

Another method to apply electrical stimulation aside from using the pads can be done if someone is certified in doing needling like acupuncture or dry needling. They can have little leads like this that have little alligator clips on the end, and these can be placed onto the metal needle by the practitioner after it has been inserted into the tight muscle. This will send the electrical currents through the needles instead of through the pads. Some people find this more beneficial, although you cannot turn the power as high. This is because instead of it just being on the surface, penetrating the top area of the muscle, it is penetrating much deeper because of the needle. This can then potentially give a much stronger effect, depending on the person and the injury.

So, once again my name is Reece Hayden, Doctor of Chiropractic with Synergy Chiropractic of Houston. If you have any questions, please feel free to give us a call. We’re here to help. Hope you have a nice day. Bye