Let's discuss the difficulty in engineering an interferential unit
that is truly portable.
TENS vs. INTERFERENTIAL
Portable units be it TENS, IF, or what is called PGS or pulsed galvanic
current are designed for a patient to actually wear on their belt,
garment etc. They use some form of disposable/rechargeable battery
system such as 9 volt or AAA systems to power the unit.
The problem with portable battery powered interferential units are there is not enough power in
the batteries to emit 8,000 + pps (pulses per second) compared to a tens
units where you only need 150 pps. Tens stimulation will last for days while IF will
last for seconds.
The breakthrough came when we were able to finally get the Infrex Plus
unit to last for approximately 45 minutes using it's rechargeable
battery system, unlimited usage with the AC adaptor. This was significant as a patient could actually wear the unit, while being treated, and not be confined to staying
close to a wall socket for power.
USE AC ADAPTOR WITH INFREX PLUS WHEN POSSIBLE
We recommend to use the AC adaptor as well as larger electrodes for interferential mode than what woud be used with typical tens only units,
and plug the Infrex Plus into a wall outlet whenever you need a treatment, however you do have the ability to take the unit with you such as when you are in car going on long
trip and use it then. We have found few people who can tolerate the Infrex Plus
total output when using the AC adaptor. This translates into enough power for
practically anyone and enhance the chances of carryover relief for longer periods
of time.
Historically the battery system to support this type output would
have required you to pull a wheelbarrow loaded with car type batteries
behind you to use it when not plugged into wall socket. There have
been some units that were supposedly portable but the unit's battery
weighed in excess of 3 pounds and was 3X the size of the unit. It
just plain didn't work.
Hopefully as technology improves in batteries we may one day have
the power supply to use an Interferential as a TENS unit is used but
for right now the Infrex Plus is the only unit capable of true portability and the ONLY
unit combining both tens and interferential into one unit.
