A home TENS unit is a small battery-powered device with sticky pads. It lets you use the same pain-calming tingle at home, between visits. It turns down pain signals when pain flares at home, at work or at night, which can help you stay active and lean less on pain medicine.
What is home TENS unit?
A home TENS unit is a small battery-powered device with sticky pads. It lets you use the same pain-calming tingle at home, between visits.
How does it help?
It turns down pain signals when pain flares at home, at work or at night, which can help you stay active and lean less on pain medicine.
How should it feel?
A strong, comfortable tingle under the pads. It should never hurt. Your physician orders the mode, the time and how often.
How do you use and care for it?
Put pads on clean, dry skin around the painful area, at least 1 inch apart. Keep the pads on their plastic sheet and replace them when they stop sticking. Stop and call if your skin is red or burned under the pads, or if you feel dizzy or your heart races.
When should you call us?
- Never on the front of your neck, over your eyes, across your chest, or on broken skin
- Never while driving, operating machinery, sleeping, or in the bath or shower
- Not with a pacemaker or implanted stimulator, or during pregnancy unless your physician clears it
How long does it take?
Use it as your physician ordered.
We fit every item to you, show you how to put it on, use it and take it off, and give you written instructions. You show us you can do it before you go home. Call (314) 887-5866 if it hurts, does not fit or breaks.
What to remember
- Pads on clean, dry skin, at least 1 inch apart.
- Never while driving, sleeping or in water.
- Red or burned skin under the pads means stop and call.
Show us you have it: Show us how you place the pads, turn it on and pick the mode. We go over it again at your next visit, and you can ask us to explain anything a second time.
Read more: TENS in the clinic.
Other devices in the program
This is part of our physician-directed physiotherapy program, where a physician orders and supervises every treatment and no treatment starts unless a physician is available right away.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP. Board Certified in Anesthesiology, Pain Medicine, Interventional Pain Management, Addiction Medicine, and Obesity Medicine. Last reviewed October 18, 2026.