NMES and TENS: How can electrical stimulation impact recovery?

Electrical stimulation is a use of mild electrical pulses to stimulate nerves or muscles to either create a muscle contraction for strengthening or for reducing pain. TENS and NMES are often thought to be the same and that the machines can work interchangeable, but that is not true.

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) is what is most often thought of when the term electrical stimulation is thrown out. This is what people think of for using for pain management and often used in physical therapy or chiropractor clinics to help reduce pain. TENS is a lower frequency and stimulates sensory nerves, and help to block the pain mechanism.

Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES) is used for neuromuscular re-education. It is a higher frequency and threshold to stimulate the nerves to provide muscle contractions. Many dogs with injuries will lose muscle mass (atrophy). Simply stated, the muscles are not working and contracting like they should. The dog's legs will look much skinner than before injury.

Both TENS and NMES are well researched in the human world. There is not as much research in the veterinary realm, but all research does support the use of both types of electrical stimulation.

NMES is something I use on dogs who have any neurological disorder, especially IVDD. Even with dogs who are deep pain negative have been able to get muscle contractions to help them walk. I also use it post surgical, especially for TPLO/CCL injuries . It helps to improve muscle activation and decrease atrophy from non-use.

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