It was during antenatal classes that Jane and John learned about the benefits of a labour TENS machine. Preparing for the arrival of their son, they were keen to hire one to help with labour pain.
Much to their disappointment, when they finally picked up their hired TENS machine, they discovered it was old and faulty. Feeling frustrated, it occurred to them that others must have had similarly disappointing experiences. This inspired them to purchase the best TENS units they could find and make them available to expectant parents throughout New Zealand. They wanted to make the process as easy as possible, so decided to offer a simple online booking system, free door-to-door delivery and free return postage. And so, Natal Care Naturally was born.
WHAT IS TENS?
TRANSCUTANEOUS ELECTRICAL NERVE STIMULATION
A TENS unit is a small battery-operated machine that works by delivering small impulses to your body through four sticky electrode pads. The electrode pads are attached to your lower back during labour.
These small impulses flood the nervous system, reducing its ability to transmit pain signals to the spinal cord and brain.
TENS is one of the safest, most effective forms of modern pain control available to women during childbirth.
The treatment is widely approved and recommended by midwives and doulas and it allows you to experience a mobile, drug-free labour, with personal control over your pain relief.
HOW DOES TENS WORK?
TENS WORKS BY CHANGING HOW YOUR BODY PERCEIVES PAIN
Essentially, it’s playing a ‘trick’ on your brain.
When you use TENS at a low-intensity level, it is working through the Gate Control Theory, which suggests there’s only a certain number of stimuli that can get through to your brain. In other words, there is a ‘gate’ that only lets so much sensory information through. So, with TENS, you’re flooding your brain with the sensory buzzing feeling so that it can’t perceive the pain from contractions as strongly.
When you ‘crank’ up the TENS (with the intensity on a higher setting), you are stimulating the body with another source of pain, which triggers your body to release its own natural pain-relieving hormones called endorphins, which act like your own natural morphine supply.
