TENS for Labor Rentals

ONE - A TENS unit in labor provides a drug free pain control management. TENS is short for transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation, using low electrical current providing pain relief.  Four electrodes are used on your upper and lower back, delivering a mild electrical stimulation traveling along the nerve fibers barely under your skin bringing you pain relief!

TWO – A TENS unit should be started in early labor!  Applying the TENS unit early in labor  permits your body's natural endorphins to release. The tingling sensation of the mild electrical current permits your brain to release more endorphins and lesson the pain of a contraction.  By using a TENS unit during labor the gate control theory of pain provides a  non-painful input signal (the TENS unit) which closes the gates to the more painful input which is the labor contraction.

THREE –  A birthing person should start the TENS unit at the first signs of labor.  We know the benefit of laboring at home for early labor, this is the perfect time at start the TENS unit. The TENS unit is a small hand held unit that is controlled by the laboring mother worn on a lanyard around your neck. Psychologically, it gives the birthing person a sense of control as they adjust the intensity of the TENS as the contractions strengthen.

FOUR- A TENS unit is portable giving the birthing person freedom to move around and use different positions for labor, which is beneficial to the progress of labor.  Pads come with the TENS unit and can be re-applied 10-15 times, so if the birthing person chooses to get in the bath or shower during labor, they can easily remove and re-apply the pads, once out of the water.

FIVE - Using a TENS unit in labor may help the birthing person get to a more optimal point in her labor if she chooses to have an epidural.

SIX - Maternity TENS units have been used in other countries since the early 1970's.  They have been FDA approved for post surgery and traumatic pain. As this article written by Evidence based birth mentions, "The history of using TENS for pain relief may date as far back as the year A.D. 63, when the physician to the Roman emperor reported that he could relieve pain by standing on electrical fish at the seaside."