Today's topic is can a tens unit or injections help reverse neuropathy?
Well, let's look what a Tens Unit does. A tens unit is attached to your skin by electro pad. What it's designed to do is flood your nervous system with signals so that it doesn't feel the pain anymore. So as the tens unit starts to send electrical impulses up those nerves, the brain now receives those signals and basically now can block out that pain signal. If you think about that, none of that will ever regenerate the nerve. When you look at how a nerve regenerates it is a cascading set of events that needs proteins, that needs energy from the mitochondria, that needs nutrients, that needs blood and many other things.
Unfortunately, a tens unit DOES NOT do that. This is the same with injections. A lot of patients who have neuropathy end up getting either steroid injections and or get and a numbing agent injected to that area. Now let's think about that, an anesthetic injection is designed to do is numb out the area.
So, it's like getting a shot in your mouth when getting your teeth pulled out. It just numbs that nerve so you do not feel that tooth being pulled. Well, that's what they're trying to do there. Think about it, numbing a nerve does not equal nerve regeneration. Let's look at what a steroid injection does. A steroid injection is to get rid of inflammation. Now, inflammation does equal pain, but the problem is when you inject that area to get rid of inflammation it does nothing to the nerve to help it regenerate. It just temporary gets rid of the inflammation but does not address what caused the inflammation to start.
So that's why when patients get tens units and or injections either of lidocaine and or a steroid injection, it does not help the nerve. It NEVER get the nerve to regenerate. That's why those treatments do not work for neuropathy.
The only way you can get rid of neuropathy or repair it, is to address the foundational problem. In this case it is the nerve and it's enviroment which is causing the problem. It is common sense!
God Bless
Dr. Thai
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