i had extreme pain from sciatica. i was taking multiple doses of tylenol/alleve a day, couldn't sleep at night from pain from hips to toes. couldn't hardly walk with so much pain, but continued to go to work daily and just deal with the pain factor. my co-worker had a tens machine, saw my daily pain, and offered to bring it in for me to try. 10 min round 1 and then i liked the effect so much, i went for another 20 min. that was about 3-4 weeks ago. i've not had any noteworthy pain since then. i went from wondering if i was going to have surgery (a huge no no in my mind) because of extreme pain, to feeling good. i ordered my own tens machine, and i won't hesitate to use it when i do something dumb like too much gardening and cause my sciatica to rear it's ugly head again! you have to try this, it's what a therapist would use it you paid/went to them.