Ob/Gyn Medical News about pain relief in labour; transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation

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Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for pain relief in labour
Cochrane Reviews, 04/17/09

Dowswell T et al. - TENS is a device which emits low voltage currents which has been used for pain relief in labour. The way that TENS acts to relieve pain is not well understood. The electrical pulses are thought to stimulate nerve pathways in the spinal cord which block the transmission of pain. In labour, the electrodes from the TENS machine are usually attached to the lower back (and women themselves control the electrical currents using a hand-held device) but TENS can also be applied to acupuncture points or directly to the head. The review includes 19 studies with a total of 1671 women. There was some evidence that women using TENS were less likely to rate their pain as severe but results were not consistent. Many women said they would be willing to use TENS again in a future labour. TENS did not seem have an effect on the length of labour, interventions in labour, or the wellbeing of mothers and babies. It is not known whether TENS would help women to manage pain at home in early labour.

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