Tens machines/pain relief (for animals)?

Re: Tens machines/pain relief (for animals)?

Debbie Summers — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:27:39 GMT

Hi Dippy,

Firstly, yes the machine we used was a human one...not sure if there is a vet one yet????

We started the physio / TENS routine 24 hours post op, and it was done 4 hourly as long as they tolerated it. We didn't have to vary this, but it would depend on the case and your nursing team....we had 24 hour nursing, so it was done 24 hours a day. It would normally take around 20 minutes, but that also incorporated a full physio routine. Obviously you would need to tailor the routine to your specific case......this was post spinal, but I am sure you would be able to use it to benefit quite a few conditions.

My suggestion would be to not do it anymore than every 4 hours, and to start gradually and monitor the patients response. It would be interesting to know what responses you have to it.

Feel free to message me if you want any more info. Hope that helps!

Debbie

Re: Tens machines/pain relief (for animals)?

Dippy — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:37:42 GMT

Erm...no. Don't even know who would be the most local one to us as it's not something we've done before but will get on the case and find out!

Re: Tens machines/pain relief (for animals)?

Nick Shackleton — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:27:00 GMT

The case i saw it used in was a patient that had muscular contracture 6 weeks post op. Owners neglected to bring patient back prior to 6 week post op check.

We got in touch with local physiotherapist. They came and examined patient and suggested exercises and treatment plane with TENS machine.

We were doing twice daily treatments inc. PROM and gentle stretches following treatment.

What I'm trying to say is that it is case dependant, so maybe work getting in touch with local physio. Do you have one local whom you have a good relationship with???

Re: Tens machines/pain relief (for animals)?

Dippy — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:20:52 GMT

Thanks guys. Have reported back to Mr boss man and he would like to know what kind of treatment regimes have been used ie do you just do it immediately after surgery or have they been on once/twice weekly sessions, more or less than this or anything else useful? He's trying to find out what would be the best way to go about using one to give best results to the patient.

Also, I presume form the comment about the pads not sticking that they are just human machines?

Thanks again!

Re: Tens machines/pain relief (for animals)?

StephSVN — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:32:50 GMT

Just thought I would add, only left with w/e students once treatment intensity was reached and patient settled!

Re: Tens machines/pain relief (for animals)?

StephSVN — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:32:05 GMT

No experience of it in small animals but have heard other stories similar to the above. My friend worked at a Equine Therapy and Rehab centre and they used it on the majority of their patients - was so well tolerated it could often be left to work experience students to supervise.

Re: Tens machines/pain relief (for animals)?

Nick Shackleton — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:08:16 GMT

Have used one in the pas on patients where I used to work and would agree with debbie that saw some good results. Also agree re the pads.

Re: Tens machines/pain relief (for animals)?

Debbie Summers — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:01:43 GMT

Hi Dippy,

We used to use TENS all the time post spinal surgery, as part of the physio / pain relief protocol, for those patients who tolerated it. To be honest I didn't see a bad reaction; in fact we had one particularly agressive mini dachsy who loved it!

We would gradually increase the intensity and monitor their reaction - I knew what it felt like as I had used it for kneck and shoulder problems, and it was surprisingly well tolerated at quite high intensity. We used a constant rather than modulated impulse, and obviously sat with them throughout. The only issue we had was that as the sticky pads are designed for human skin, they lose their stick quite quickly on shaved fur, so we used leukopor tape and accepted they needed replacing relatively quickly.

Hope that helps!

Debbie