AUVON 24 Modes Rechargeable TENS Unit, 4th Gen Muscle Stimulator with 10pcs TENS Machine Electrodes for Pain Relief Therapy & Management

I am a retired physical therapist. Those who have been to physical therapy for a back problem and went to one of those chain clinics or hospital-affiliated clinics, you may have received the assembly line hot packs+ultrasound+e-stim+massage as daily treatments applied by PT techs for every treatment session. These are feel-goods that patients often enjoy...but the dirty little secret is they do not fix your problem, they only treat the symptoms. They will, however, add many expensive charges to your bill that your insurance won't cover, or will only cover partially. The clinics love that. The more they bill you the more money they make.My treatment philosophy was different. I treated patients and taught them how to treat their own back and neck problems, so in most cases they would not need to come back to someone like me. If someone required perpetual treatment, then I questioned how effective my treatments really were. I did not make regular use of most of these pain modalities in my practice because they only treat symptoms. Only exercise and manual therapy will fix the problem. Exercise also has a strong pain-relieving effect.Transcutaneous Electrical Neuromuscular Stimulation (TENS) works by creating a sensory impulse stronger than the one producing the pain. The sensory nerves will respond to the stronger stimulus, and won't perceive the smaller one. This is the gate-control theory of pain at work--it temporarily blocks the painful stimulus. (I've worked with quack chiropractors as well as one other therapist who claimed another form of electrical stimulation called interferential current could stimulate nerve healing, but the research just did not back that up.)There is a place for certain modalities in the acute phase to deal with the pain. That's where a TENS unit can be effective. I've prescribed TENS units to patients (both chronic pain sufferers who don't respond to therapy and/or surgery as well as acute injuries). I've used large electrical stimulators in clinic for acute pain relief when a person was in too much pain to perform any exercise. Once the acute phase was over, this kind of treatment was largely unnecessary.I purchased this because I had an acute back injury with significant pain and limited movement. I used it for three days and performed therapeutic exercises until the pain subsided. Worse, I had to go on a 3 hour flight a few days later and sitting was uncomfortable.I was never a fan of the pre-programmed TENS settings and always adjusted my own frequency (Hz) and duration (usecs) settings manually. I ordered a TENS unit with those capabilities from the FSA Store, but it took 2 days to arrive. I ordered this one from Amazon and received it later the same day.Too my great surprise, I found that I liked the 4th pre-programmed setting on this unit (the symbols are 2 fists on the display) better than the manual settings on my other TENS unit set at 100 usecs/100 Hz. This effectively blocked the painful stimulus.There are several other things I like about this one over the other. It is rechargeable, and you can use many cycles before having to recharge it. I used it for hours, for three straight days and still haven't had to recharge it. The other TENS unit takes batteries. My other TENS is about the size of a pack of cigarettes; this one is only a little bigger than my mp3 player. Even though my other TENS came with a hard case for storage, this one came in a compact box. But this one came with quite a few more electrodes, and a plastic base to place the electrodes on after you've used them. (NOTE: don't throw away electrodes after each use. Either put them on the plastic base OR put them back on the same plastic sheet they came on. Just put a small dab of water on your fingertip and spread it on the sticky side to keep it tacky. You can reuse your electrodes for weeks/months.)If you are having acute back pain from a strain or derangement (usually disc bulge), then this can help get you through those first few days until it can be resolved through exercise and manual therapy. For those who have chronic pain from nerve damage or herniated disc with radicular symptoms, I would definitely recommend this as part of your pain management program. It sure beats the heck out of pills which also don't fix the problem but often create serious problems of their own. TENS is not physically be addictive.As TENS units go, I would definitely be recommend this unit. You get a lot of value for your money and it is an effective device for pain control. TENS used to be very cost-prohibitive, in the $750-$1,000 range for a unit. Now they're much more affordable and don't require a prescription. They are FSA-eligible too. I think it's smart to have one of these in your bathroom cabinet or wherever you store that electric heating pad. That way, it's readily available if you need it. You can use it on other parts of the body, like your knee or shoulder. It's great for pain around an incision site after surgery. If you're like me, you probably won't use it again for several months or even years, but at this price point, it's a worthwhile tool to have in stock. That's great that you can buy your own instead of having to fork over hundreds-$1,000 dollars to someone like me.

The first thing I noticed was how small the packaging was. I was surprised just because I thought this device would be larger. I've never had one before, let alone see one. It was also incredibly well packaged. I thought I only got 8 pads but there is 2 sets in each plastic envelope. I made sure to read all the directions and warnings before using it.The largest downfall is that when you're using these you're not supposed to do two of the same body parts at the same time. So if I wanted to do my thighs, calves, or feet, I would need to do one side at a time. Not a huge deal but makes the process a little time consuming for sure if you want to do both sides. You're also not supposed to use this on your chest, which makes sense or your neck.I do like how they show pictures of "recommended massage points." Without them I would have not been willing to try these on the bottom of my stomach where my belly button is (one on each side, NOT covering your belly button up) or on the back of my shoulders as I would have assumed these areas would be too close to your chest and neck. While they may be seen as being overly cautious, I am very new to this, so I'm just trying to make sure I don't hurt myself. Which is why I really do appreciate having illustrations of where they're recommended.The device was fully charged and I was able to use it right away. I'm actually using them right now on the back of my lower legs and calves, one side at a time. The cords are very long, which is thoughtful and the adhesives are strong as well. I wouldn't consider myself to have extremely hairy legs but they are hairy and these still sit still. I'm doing mode one which is "Knead Massage" and the highest I can do is level 3. Any high and it's uncomfortable. I can only imagine what 10 feels like and I'm 100% never doing that. I'm doing it for 10 minutes only until I can build up. This little device is extremely strong.While I was typing this review I got done with both sides and now, on one side only, I have one pad underneath my foot and one more on top of my thigh. I first tried "Deep Tissue Massage" with one under my foot and the other underneath my thigh but it was causing my thigh to spaz out, even on just level 2, and HAD to immediately turn it off as it felt like it was about develop a nasty cramp. I took off the pad under my thigh and put it on top of my thigh and switched back to "Knead Massage" at level 3 and everything's good again. It's still very strong. I think it's my thigh. It could also be that I have the other on the bottom of my feet because while neither are on the bottom of my leg, my leg still feels it.I got these to help with restless leg syndrome, feet recovery and shin splints. I started running again and my calves were in so much pain and at the same time I developed restless leg syndrome. It's making it incredibly hard to fall asleep at night. I got shoe insoles, calve sleeves and knee sleeves and my shin splints went away but my restless legs stayed. So I'm hoping these help.Also, the timer is really nice and easy to use. Level 3 is so much. This thing is so powerful. I'll update my review after a week or two to let yall know if it's been helping with my restless legs. For now my initial impression is that it is SUPER strong, take it slow. The battery life is really long as well. I'm about to have completed 40 minutes using this thing at level 3 and it's still at full charge.