HomeAnswersPhysiotherapymuscle strainCan TENS be used to manage muscle pain?

Is it advisable to use TENS to improve muscle pain?

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The following is an actual conversation between an iCliniq user and a doctor that has been reviewed and published as a Premium Q&A.

Medically reviewed by

Dr. Divya Banu M

Published At January 27, 2020
Reviewed AtJuly 1, 2023

Patient's Query

Hello doctor,

I played volleyball on Monday night and everything was fine but then I played squash on Tuesday night. My glutes were sore on Wednesday. Just deep muscle soreness, But I chalked it up to not having played in 9 months. Then I played volleyball Wednesday night too. And things were sore. Thursday my left glute started hurting around 2 PM and by 10 PM I could not walk at all. So much pain. I have been taking hydromorphone, oxycodone, and Celebrex anti-inflammatory pills all night and day Friday and today. Not getting better. It is either a really good strain or a tear. I have iced it, and I have got my home Tens unit on it right now and often throughout the day/night.

This feels like it is the same muscle that I hurt at the rehab center three years back and it hurts. It feels like my Glute Minimus maybe. On Thursday I used my massage chair, hot tub, foam roller, trigger point lacrosse ball, and my massage gun on it. I am thinking that digging into the injury that much probably made it worse or aggravated it. Sorry, so here is my question.

I have dry-needled in the past and it has helped a lot, but is it okay to dry the needle if it is a torn glute muscle or even a strain? The tens machine seems to take some of the pain away, but could my tens be making things worse? Also, I have been in bed laid up all day and night yesterday, literally only crawling to the bathroom and back. I was hoping that staying off of it a few days will make it better but I am not sure what else I can do. Since it is the weekend and the clinic is closed, I was gonna look around for a mobile physiotherapist to come to my place and maybe dry needle me or other therapy for some pain relief. I honestly do not think I could climb into a car to drive anywhere. Otherwise, I will stay in bed for the weekend and hope that enough of the pain is gone and I can go into the clinic and see someone on Monday.

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

From the history, it sounds more like a muscle strain or you can say it is DOMS which is sometimes common as one lands or take a flight for taking up the shot but the pain is not reducing, is not making things clear, whether it is a DOMS or muscle strain as both of it should resolve within 3-4 days.

So what I can advice is to continue with TENS and take proper rest. TENS will never make the injury worse. It's a modality for reducing pain. I will advise you to take TENS for almost 30-40 minutes, 3-4 times a day, and allow a complete bed rest without doing much mobility. We can expect the pain to come down drastically. In case after a day or two of applying TENS for 30-40 minutes if the pain persists, we need to look for other factors but rest is what is needed without having much mobility in the muscle.

Same symptoms don't mean you have the same problem. Consult a doctor now!

Jay Indravadan Patel
Jay Indravadan Patel

Physiotherapy

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