If there are such devices, do they work, and how much do they cost? I’m thinking about getting one for myself, and that led to whether it would be beneficial to horses as well.
Thanks.
My vet told me there is such a thing, but that it isn’t nearly as effective in horses as in people. She finds using electro-acupuncture is more effective…but I don’t think that is something you would want to do yourself.
The thing about TENs is that they typically only relieve pain while they are on. The second the unit comes off, the pain comes back. This is a great thing for a human as it allows reduction of pain medication use in some patients but I’m not sure if it would really be worth it for a horse. It’s not really something you could leave on them completely unsupervised like a human. There is a setting that can relieve pain for up to 8 hours on a TENs (research is shaky) but it is not very comfortable. I can’t imagine a horse tolerating it since many humans do not and they understand what is going on.
MagnaWave operates similar to a TENS, our equine MT has used it on my guy (and on me when I hurt my ankle). It isn’t recommended to do more than 40min I think at a time.
I used to use TENS on my race horses all the time at the recommendation of my acupunture/chiro vet. It had suction cup type pads and you used ultrasound gel underneath and duct taped them in place. I think it helped with muscle soreness and the horses all tolerated it well.
There is a local trainer who has some kind of blanket that does the electrical impulses - it FEELS just like my little TENS pads, only it is an entire blanket!
