What is TENS & NMES?
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and Neuromuscular electrical nerve stimulation (NMES) are two modalities that use the same equipment to conduct an electrical stimulation to the desired area of the body.
At the Animal Wellness & Performance Clinic, we use an animal specific TENS/NMES machine.
What is TENS & NMES used for?
TENS is used as a pain relief modality that works by overriding the pain signal coming from a part of the body. This allows for better patient comfort, more effective exercise and ongoing pain management as an alternative (or compliment) to medication. Treatments take 15-20 minutes however the effects last for several hours after a treatment.
NMES is a muscle building modality in which the electrical stimulation elicits a muscle contraction. This is useful in maintaining or building muscle in those patients that are unable to perform active therapeutic exercises.
Who is TENS/NMES for?
TENS is a fantastic pain relief modality for patients following surgery as well as old and arthritic dogs. Its can also be used for patients that have soft tissue injuries that don’t require surgery.
NMES is used for muscle building and activation. This means it is massively helpful for dogs recovering from neurological conditions (e.g. intervertebral disc disease IVDD), geriatric vestibular disease, traumatic spinal injuries) as well as post operative patients that are not yet weight bearing on the operated leg.
Please contact us if you would like to discuss whether TENS/NMES may be suitable for your dog.