The machines

The TENS machine is used in Pain Clinics. The Intrasound Unit is works at a lower frequency than that of ultrasound and therefore is suitable for home use. That's off the box. Says it penetrates deeper than conventional massage to stimulate blood flow thus increasing circulation and aiding natural tissue repair.

Well, ordinary massage is more to undo those knots that form in muscles which inhibit blood circulation etc., etc. Helps relax the body and the mind and therefore everything heals faster etc. Nutrients, if you're eating them, travel round the body with more ease and the body works better.

Both machines are meant to help with pain but my pain is chronic and I'm not sure if it's so easy to tell as it would be if it was less so. Also as it's muscle pain that is going to be different every day to some extent as things move round and ease a bit it's difficult to tell exactly what's going on.

Plus, ofcourse, there's all the pain relief I take. That is topped up every so often so that's going to change what I'm feeling.

Part of the pain is neurological I should think as I have numb patches rather like those that people can get when they have MS. There are two neurological pathways and the numbness can go with neurological pain. Before my next hospital visit I'll have this all documented and diagrammed!!!

I think the second machine has done something though. I said there seemed to be a change in the muscles last night and this morning there seemed to be a slight change in position. There was no miraculous loss of pain though!!! I know it says that there might infact be an increase in pain because there might be a bit of inflamation for a couple of days as the body responds to the therapy.

We'll see. But there does seem to be a change in the muscles as I said there was last night.

Didn't expect it!!!

I was told at the hospital that TENS machines work for some people but not everyone. I wonder if that has anything to do with the sort of pain or injury.

I think what I'll be doing is trying to massage the muscles back into some kind of healthier state and hoping there's less pain then. I've still got an old sports massager that I bought about twentyfive years ago that still works and which I've still got, though not here, that used to work very well. Much better than anything I tried later. It was and still is excellent combined with hand massage for healing.

All this is making me realise just how much better things must've been for mum. I know she used to really want the head, back and shoulder massages. But, now that I'm in a kinda similar position I realise just why. Must've helped a lot.

It would've been nice if I'd had these machines too then but I'd gone to me classes back in the late 60s/early 70s. Unknotting muscles was what it was all about then but still having learnt that means that now I'm very interested and open to finding out about all this.

I can remember walking on people's backs too and twiddling the toes around the ribs!! Though we found that in a book rather than at classes. These days I wouldn't really think that was too safe. Shoulder/back massage by toe!!!

Anyway, rubbish down for the binmen tomorrow, dinner on .. veggie cottage pie and peanuts and a slice of bread and marmite and then I'm off to sleep.

Means I'll be up early tomorrow and that means pill taking has to be sorted out from an earlier time but I want to start being in bed by around ten. Know I keep on saying this and I mean to do it. Up around seven and in bed by ten.

They say the body's more adapted to sleep around that time so there's something else to go for.