Using a tens unit to build muscle?

tpt42087
tpt42087 Posts: 313 Member
edited November 12 in Fitness and Exercise
Just wondering if anyone has heard of this before? I have 2 tens unit because of my back injury and a friend of mine asked if I used them to build muscle? I looked online saw some articles that say it works but just wanted to see if anyone here has tried it before if so did you get any results?

Replies

  • warmachinejt
    warmachinejt Posts: 2,162 Member
    i used tens unit before and i was also told to buy one but never did....i highly doubt it builds any muscle and besides you'd have to be in a calorie surplus
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
    I've used a muscle stim (very similar concept) in physio in the past. The point was to recruit muscles that weren't being used properly during movements, to correct imbalances, not to be building more muscles. For example, for years, I wasn't properly recruiting one of the heads of my quads during squats, and the muscle stim was placed on that head so it was forced to contract as strongly as the rest of my quads, which has massively improved the functioning of my knee.
  • DocGu
    DocGu Posts: 51 Member
    A TENS unit will not do it. Period.

    There is a form of electrical stimulation that has been shown to work in pathological situations such as muscle wasting (from disease or immobilization, etc) but it does not increase muscle mass in healthy tissue.
  • AdamAntium2k14
    AdamAntium2k14 Posts: 1
    TPT, I use my tens in conjunction with weight training.... It does fatigue the muscle, which does build muscle... Anytime you excite a muscle, it flexes, which improves it's performance/build... I mainly use it on my posterior muscles, because I used to have the 'noassitol' disease... My lovers will tell you, there's an assitol... ;)

    Also, try to isolate your keigels with one, then you'll know for yourself how well it 'tones'/'builds' muscle... Enjoy it if you have one!!

    Just remember to never isolate your chest, and always unplug the cords before you remove the pads... Be safe.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    The reason those units are used in therapy is because you have a deficit and the extra stimulation helps bring it up to normal. Or if someone is bedridden or has a muscle atrophy, then it can help.

    For a normal, healthy muscle, however, the amount of voltage it would take to evoke an effective muscle contraction would kill you.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member

    For a normal, healthy muscle, however, the amount of voltage it would take to evoke an effective muscle contraction would kill you.


    so-youre-telling-me-theres-a-chance.gif
  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
    i used to get EMS (electric muscle stimulation) sessions 3x per week, and i did build some muscle - i was visibly firmer. that being said, it wasn't a home unit, so may have been more powerful, and there were more pads, so i had my hips, upper thighs and belly done at once.

    i was not bedridden and the EMS didn't kill me - however one must be careful not to turn up too fast or too far, as a careless tech once managed to burn me when her hand jerked and she cranked the machine.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,254 Member
    edited December 2017
    bendyourkneekatie wrote: »
    Can a tens machine bring someone back to life? Like, a zombie? Like, say, a zombie thread?

    That would be handy, we would know how ignorant we are when people resurrected ancient threads to tell us.
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