How Tenease works - the research

Epicondylitis (tennis elbow) is a common cause of elbow pain, characterised by pain over the outer side of the elbow, which may radiate down the forearm. Despite the names Tennis and Golfer’s Elbow, epicondylitis does not just afflict tennis or golf professionals. In fact, this common elbow problem affects around 3% of the population and is most often associated with work related activities. Although racquet sports are more prone to the condition, they account for only 10% to 15% of all sufferers and epicondylitis is equally common in men and women, usually between the ages of 30 and 50.

The Tenease device generates microprocessor controlled high-frequency, mechanical vibration. It is known that pain is transmitted as impulses in the large sensory fibres of the body and by applying a certain frequency of vibration to the area of pain, it interacts with the pain impulse transmissions, causing disruption. The vibration is effectively ‘scrambling’ the sensory impulses to the extent that they cannot be interpreted as pain signals by the brain.

It is also reported that high-frequency, mechanical vibrations, applied locally to an injured tendon, stimulate the formation of new blood vessels. This increases the blood supply to the afflicted tendon and associated muscles and joints, accelerating recovery, although this has yet to be clinically substantiated.

Several studies have investigated the use of vibration therapy to treat acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain in various parts of the body. The published study ‘Pain Alleviation by Vibratory Stimulation’, by Lundburg, Nordemar and Ottoson from Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm, shows that vibration therapy is an effective treatment for both chronic and acute pain. It also shows that it is more effective in relieving tennis elbow pain than TENS.

Frequently asked questions about Tenease