Subject: RE: Tens or EMS units You've got the basics down already. TENS is designed for pain relief, EMS is designed for muscle strengthening. The main difference is their intent. Getting into more detail, there are differences in the protocols used between the two, in terms of intensity, pulse frequency, pulse duration, wavelength type, and especially the placement of electrodes. I believe TENS can be used by just about anyone with muscular pain (according to the indications/contraindications ), but EMS is better used by people who have some sort of rehabilitation going on, for whatever reason, and have below-normal muscular strength; e.g. - you broke your leg and lost a lot of muscle while it was immobilized. You won't see a whole lot of benefit, if any, by using EMS when you're healthy and strong. Here is a good overview of EMS: http://www.biostimtherapy.com/newsletters/october00/ems10_00.pdf. (disclaimer - I don't know anything about biostimtherapy as a company and therefore don't know anything about their products ) You can find a decent portable unit of either kind for $100 or less with 2 channels. I got myself a dual-channel TENS unit for about $40 on sale. |