Due to a combination of things, I sometimes go through spells of really bad knee pain.  My mom and both of my brothers have bad knees, so I’m sure a certain amount it is genetic, but there are also other contributing factors such as multiple sclerosis and my gigantic rack.  Neither of these, of course, is a direct cause of the pain, but the compensations I make in my gait and posture because of them makes the already troublesome joints that much worse.

Every couple of years the pain gets unbearable (always when I’m pregnant or nursing, it seems, and am limited as far as pain medication goes), so I head off to the physical therapist, who gives me a list of strengthening exercises and book me in for various sorts of treatment that help alleviate the worst of it.  Last time it was ultrasound treatments, and this time it’s the TENS machine.  After a couple of weeks of it, I have to say that I vastly prefer the TENS to the ultrasound, probably not least because I can use it in the comfort of my own home, and if I wanted to, I could be hooked up to it all day long.

For the next couple of weeks I’ve got use of a loaner machine from the physical therapist’s office, but after that I may have to break down and buy one of my own.  The main selling point of the treatment is that there are no side effects, but it sure didn’t take me long to get addicted.