What is TENS?

As defined by Eva Bild and Penny Simkin…….

¨ TENS stands for Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation. It is a safe, non-drug method of pain control for labor

¨ It is a handheld, battery-operated device, which transmits mild electrical impulses through the skin to stimulate nerve fibers in the back.

¨ It reduces pain in labor whilst allowing the laboring woman freedom to move and walk

¨ It is especially useful for back labor

¨ Research findings on TENS (Carroll et al, 1997) have shown that laboring women using the device use less pain medication than women using a “sham” TENS device.

¨ The majority of women surveyed (Chamberlain et al, 1993) rated it as moderately or very helpful in relieving pain, and would use it again in a future labor.

¨ A study that investigated the use of TENS for back pain in labor found that “TENS has a specific beneficial effect on pain localized in the back.” (Bundsen et al, 1981).

¨ A second study (Thomas et al, 1988) also found relief of back pain with TENS.

The Workshop

This half-day training will be in the form of a participative workshop with a lot of hands-on practice.  The following topics will be covered:

v What is TENS?

v Mechanisms of Pain relief with TENS
Research findings with TENS during labor

v The TENS Unit

v Precautions with TENS

v How to introduce, explain, and demonstrate TENS to a client

v Costs for the Doula and the client

v Benefits of TENS

v DONA Certification in the use of TENS

v Post-test

Objectives

At the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

¨ describe theories explaining the physiological mechanisms of pain relief with TENS

¨ Demonstrate the proper application of TENS

¨ List the part of a TENS Unit 

¨ Describe the physical sensations caused by TENS

¨ Discuss precautions and reasons for the precautions with the use of TENS

¨ Discuss the protocol for the implementation of TENS by the Doula