One of the readers has asked about the difference between TENS and eToims®. TENS stands for transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and is an effective treatment modality for chronic musculoskeletal pain. Although the indications for use to control neuromuscular pain is similar in both methods, there are major differences between TENS and eToims®.
TENS uses 2-4 surface patch electrodes placed over the areas of pain with very low threshold stimulation usually at high frequencies to control pain. The mechanism behind pain control with TENS is in closing the pain gates in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord so that the pain impulses would not be conveyed to the brain. The electrodes are placed on the skin and an area is stimulated usually for 20 to 30 minutes. If the electrodes are placed over motor points, local twitch impulses can be elicited. This is called motor level TENS and can give pain relief due to the elicitation of the twitches. TENS is usually self-applied by the patient with a unit hooked on to a belt allowing the patient to be mobile. Patient may turn the device on and off and use it several times throughout the day on different body sites of pain.
eToims® standing for Electrical Twitch Obtaining Intramuscular Stimulation is a new anatomical and physiological approach for acute and chronic neuromuscular pain relief. In using the state-of-the-art eToims® Twitch Relief Method, the expert clinician applies the electrical stimulation. Although eToims® stimulation is applied from the skin surface to the motor points as occasionally may occur with TENS, the eToims®stimulus intensity is maximal to supramaximal and lasts only for a fractionth of a second.
Unlike the TENS method, eToims® Twitch Method is targeted to locating and stimulating specifically the motor points within the given timeframe that the patient requests for treatment. All muscles that surround the area of interest as well as muscles supplied by nerve roots (myotomes) above and below the area are treated individually.
The patient is repositioned in many positions to facilitate finding the motor points.The clinician must also position himself/herself to be able to direct the electric current to reach the motor point. Therefore, for all positions of the patient, the clinician literally walks around the treatment table to obtain a good angle for treatment. For example, if the patient is lying on the right side, the clinician may treat the patient from the front of the patient as well as back of the patient with the patient’s limbs and spine kept in different positions to relax the muscles needing treatment.
With eToims Twitch Relief Method the patient as well as the clinician are actively participating in the treatment to provide active exercise individually to each and every muscle of interest through motor point stimulation to provide neuromuscular pain relief. eToims® Twitch Relief Method can be used as a stand-alone non-pharmaceutical, non-surgical method in early, mild cases of nerve related muscle pain with chances for complete recovery.