It became difficult for Daniel to hold his grandson or partake in any of the activities he enjoyed before neck and back pain became unbearable. He had a cervical spine laminectomy to address the pain. He also tried pain medication, a TENS unit and an H-Wave® stimulator – but nothing adequately curbed the pain, so he continued to seek treatment options. However, once prescribed the RS-4i Plus, Daniel’s quality of life improved significantly.

Recent VA research offers some good news for soldiers living with chronic pain. Analysis shows that service members who receive non-drug therapies – which include TENS electrotherapy – as part of their pain treatment plans may have lower long-term risks for alcohol and drug disorders, as well as self-induced injuries. In fact, those who received non-drug therapies were 35 percent less likely to injure themselves than those who didn’t receive such therapies while in the service.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease affecting nearly 1 million people in the U.S today. While the underlying cause is not well understood, genetic susceptibility and abnormalities in the immune system, as well as unknown environmental factors, are believed to be triggers. Though there is no cure for MS, there are a variety of therapeutic options – including drug therapies, physical therapy, acupuncture, yoga and electrotherapy.

While healthcare providers may differ on which assessment tool(s) are best, there is widespread acknowledgement that the effective treatment of pain relies upon accurate and detailed assessments occurring at regular intervals – including after pain relief interventions. This is why any patient prescribed an RS-4i Plus® has been asked to complete a baseline survey establishing their pain and activity levels before treatment. Then 30 days into treatment, this is followed by a second survey – resulting in the ability to compare scores and document changes.

What Traci’s healthcare provider originally thought to be arthritis, turned out to be nothing of the sort. X-rays revealed that she was actually suffering from a pinched nerve. Now using the RS-4i Plus device, she’s feeling much better. After about two weeks, she noticed a significant improvement – with her pain dropping from a six to a two, on a 10-point pain scale.

For patients living with central sensitization, the nervous system goes through a process known as a “wind-up” and devolves into a constant state of high reactivity. This heightened state lowers the threshold for what causes pain and subsequently comes to maintain pain even after its source, whether an injury or illness, is no longer present. The result is it takes almost nothing for these patients to experience severe pain.

This shift away from just treating the pain toward a model that treats the whole person is rooted in a growing trend called patient-centered care – what the VA calls Whole Health. While this change may seem strange at first, it offers patients more options and increased independence for managing chronic conditions. Treatments that can be self-managed – during the day or especially at night – allow patients to get the necessary pain relief in their actual moments of need.