TENS Glossary of Terms
GLOSSARY
OF TERMS ASSOCIATED WITH TENS
- ATP – Adenosine Triphosphate that helps to promote protein synthesis.
- Accommodation – Becoming accustomed to stimulation resulting in nerve and muscle fatigue.
- Acute Pain – Sudden, severe and of short duration.
- Alternating Current (AC) – Uninterrupted flow of charged particles that reverses itself at regular intervals.
- Amplitude Modulation – Variation or change in the magnitude of the current over a period of time.
- Anesthesia – Loss of sensation and consciousness
- Analgesia – A pain sensation-free state without loss of consciousness.
- Asymmetric – Unbalanced or unequal.
- Beat Frequency – The intersection and temporal summation of two or more electrical waves that differ in frequency.
- Beta Fibers – Nerve impulse transmitters.
- Biofeedback – Automatic bodily response to a stimulus used to acquire voluntary control of the response.
- Biphasic – Two electrical phases: one positive, the other negative.
- Bipolar Stimulation – The use of two electrodes.
- Bipolar Polarity – Electrical current above and below the baseline.
- Brain Wave Rhythms – Alpha, beta, delta, and theta
- Burst – A finite series of pulses followed by a pause or interburst interval.
- Carrier Frequency – A frequency within a pulse.
- Calcium – Deficiency or excess of serum calcium causes nerve and muscle dysfunctions and abnormal blood clotting.
- Central Nervous System – Brain and spinal cord.
- Chronic Pain – Constant Pain that continues for months or years.
- Constant – Continuous stimulation, no change in pattern.
Contraindications – Any condition that makes a particular treatment inadvisable. - Cycled – Electrical timing functions cycling through ramp, on and off times.
- Decubitus Ulcers – Wounds resulting in prolonged sitting or lying becoming inflamed and ulcerated.
- Delta – Brain wave rhythm of 1-4 cycles per second. A state of deep dreamless sleep.
- Dermatomes – The skin area supplied with nerve fibers by a single posterior spinal root.
- Diathermy – Heat therapy associated with high frequencies of 10,000pps and higher.
- Direct Current (DC) – An uninterrupted flow of charged particles that flows in one direction.
- Distally – Situated away from the center of the body or point of origin.
- Edema – The swelling of the body tissue.
- Endorphins – A morphine-like substance released by the pituitary gland to decrease pain.
- Enkephalins – See endorphins. Enkephalins also inhibit the pain causing chemicals (prostaglandins) from passing messages to the brain.
- Electrodes – The terminal through which electrical stimulation is applied to the body.
- Frequency – Number of cycles of carrier wave per second. Also known as Pulses Per Second (pps), Hertz (Hz), and Pulse Rate.
- Frequency Shifts – An abrupt change in frequency used to excite different tissue levels and to prevent accommodation.
- Frequency Swing – A slow adjustment to the frequency used to excite different tissue levels and to prevent accommodation.
- Gate Theory – Hypothetical ‘Gate’ which blocks pain from reaching the brain.
- Hertz – Unit of frequency equal to one cycle per second, See Frequency.
- High Frequency – In Pain Management and TENS classification of high frequency is greater than 50pps. In NMS and Multi-Frequency Devices high frequency is associated with heat or diathermy at frequencies greater than 10,000pps.
- Impulse – Wave of excitation in nerve causing action or inaction of muscles.
- Indications – An indicator for a particular treatment.
- Inflammation – Process affecting the part of the body with
heat, swelling, and redness.
Interference current – The current that interacts with the adjustable current resulting in a beat frequency. - Low frequency – In Pain Management and TENS classification of low frequency is 1-20pps. In NMS and Multi-Frequency Devices low frequency is associated with minimum frequency required for tetany in the ranges of 1-1,000pps.
- MENS – Micro current Electrical Nerve Stimulator.
- Maximum Sensory Threshold – Where the effectiveness of the Gate Theory and Endorphin release is at an optimum.
- Medium Frequency – Technically defined as 1,000 to 10,000pps
- Meridians – Lines of transmission through the body.
- Microamplitude – Maximum value of current measured from the baseline represented by the symbol uA, 1/1000 of 1 Milliamp.
- Milliamplitude – Maximum value of current measured from the baseline represented by the symbol mA.
- Modes of Operation – Types of stimulation patterns such as Burst, Modulation, and Continuous.
- Modulation – The altering of the pulse rate and or pulse width and or amplitude of the pulse.
- Motor Neurons – Nerve cells of the brain.
- Muscle – Strong tissue composed of fibers that have power of contraction to produce movement of the body.
- NMS – Neuro Muscle Stimulators
- Nerve Fibers – A bundle of conducting fibers enclosed in the epineurium for the transmission of impulses between any part of the body and nerve center.
- Nerve Stimulation – Caused by minute electrical impulses through the electrodes to the nerve endings.
- Neurons – Brain nerve cells.
- Neuro Transmitter – A chemical that is released from one neuron into the synaptic junction (gap) between it and another neuron.
- Ohm – Electrical resistance measurement.
- Ohm’s law – V=IR . The potential difference (V) across a pure resistor is directly proportional to the current flowing through the resistor.
- Peripheral Nervous Systems – Those parts of the nervous system lying outside the central nervous system.
- Phantom Limb – a feeling of an arm or leg that has been amputated still exists.
- Polarity – Electrical condition of either positive or negative
from baseline.
Post Operative Pain – Pain suffered after an operation. - Potentiometers – Instrument for measuring or adjusting electrical potential.
- Pre-Programmed – Modes of operation are preset and cannot be changed.
- Protracted Pain – Pain that continues for weeks, sometimes months.
- Proximal – Nearest the point that is considered the center of a system. (E.g. central nervous system).
- Pulse Amplitude – The measure of the magnitude of current with reference to the base line measured in Milli amplitude or Micro amplitude.
- Pulse Duration – See pulse width.
- Pulse Rate – Output rate of pulses generated per second.
- Pulse Width – The time elapsed from the beginning to the end of all phases within one pulse measured in microseconds.
- Ramp – Sequential increase or decrease in amplitude, width, or rate.
- Rise Time – The time for the leading edge of the phase to increase from the baseline to peak amplitude of the phase.
- Sensory Nerve Fibers – Convey impulses from the periphery towards the brain or spinal cord.
- Strength Duration – Stimulation that follows the Maximum Sensory Threshold.
- TENS – Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator
- Transcutaneous – Through/ beneath the skin.
- Volts – Unit of electromotive force the difference of potential that would carry on ampere of current against an OHM resistance.
- Wave Forms – Different electrical forms or patterns emitted through the electrodes to the skin.