No, unfortunately, your TENS machine cannot get wet, so it cannot be used with water.

If you're planning on a water birth, or using water for pain relief in labour, there are still some ways you can incorporate the TENS into your plan. Find out how here.

There are four pads that come with your TENS machine. 2 start at your bra line and 2 finish at your underwear line - both on either sides of your spine.

Placing the electrodes:

• You will likely need some help placing the pads on your back. You can do it yourself in a pinch, but it’s a hard feat – if you don’t have a birthing partner, you can ask your midwife for help with this.

• Before placing your electrodes ensure the area is free from excess oils or moisture.

• Place the electrodes vertically starting at your underwear line; the length of your torso may affect where the top of the bra line electrodes start – you’ll run out of room on the bottom electrodes before you do on the top, which is why we recommend starting at the bottom.

• Whether the wires are facing up or down doesn’t matter a great deal. You can place them in whichever way is the most comfortable for you.

• You then connect the top 2 electrodes to 2 wires in the same jack (where the wires connect to the machine) and the bottom 2 electrodes to the 2 other wires in the same jack. Whether you connect the top or bottom to the left or right jack doesn’t matter.

TENS electrodes are easily removable and can be reused – how long for, depends on how they’ve been treated.

The stickiness of the gel on the electrodes can be affected by a few things:

• Large amounts of sweat or wet skin

• Oils – either massage/essential oils or oil from your skin

• Any other moisture or residue on the skin

You can prolong the life of your electrodes by:

• Drying your skin before application

• Ensuring the area of your skin being used is free from massage oils

• Placing electrodes straight on plastic backing once removing

• Placing electrodes + plastic backing in their zip lock bag

If you have got some electrodes that have started to lose their adhesiveness, you can help them by rubbing a small amount of water into the gel – it may seem contradictory to what’s already been said about moisture on the skin, but it does help!

The difference between each machine is relatively small, you can take a quiz here which will help you decide which machine is for you and why. Or you can also find a comparison chart on each TENS hire product page.

Though, in short, the differences are:

Elle TENS - Base model, has birth mode for pain relief in labour
Elle TENS 2 - Same as above, but also has the screen light and contraction timer
Elle TENS + - Same as above, but also has the standard pain mode which is helpful for pain relief outside of labour (great for afterbirth pains)

TENS Machines are effective for many different types of pain, and some can be used for pelvic floor strengthening, too.

The Elle TENS Plus is the only one with the standard pain function and the pelvic floor mode. You can use your Elle TENS Plus with all its features for:

• Afterbirth pains

• C-Section recovery

• Shoulder pain from breastfeeding

• Pelvic pain

• General aches and pains

• Sports injuries

• Recovery from surgeries

• Pelvic floor strengthening and recovery from incontinence (only suitable for machines purchased outright)

Yes! Upon receiving the TENS machine back we sanitise the machine and wires with hospital-grade cleaner and the bags are washed in a hot wash with a hospital-grade sanitiser and then line dried.

We then test your machine, using all functions to ensure they're working. So when they're ready to go back out they're clean and in working order.

Hiring a TENS machine is a great option if you:

• Are only planning on one or two more babies
• Want to try it out first to see if it works for you
• Don’t want to have to worry about safely storing the machine between pregnancies

• Always want the latest technology for labour
• Don’t think you’ll use the machine outside of birth

You may wish to consider purchasing if you:

• Are planning on three or more babies
• May use the machine in between pregnancies
• May use the machine's pelvic floor function (Elle TENS Plus only)

You can hire for 4, 6 or 8 weeks.

We recommend those who are 36 weeks pregnant or earlier select an 8-week hire, this will give you 4 weeks on either side of your due date. 

If you're due sooner than that, you may find a shorter hire period is right for you.

Note: Shipping times don't come off your hire period. A 1-week shipping buffer is added in between your start and end date, making your hire period technically 1-week longer than advertised when counting from your start date. 

Sending back is very easy, in your hire is an included pre-paid satchel to make returning seamless and hassle-free.

This satchel is already labelled and addressed, and just needs to be packed, sealed and taken down to be posted.

We do recommend taking it to a post office versus dropping it in the box, so you can get a receipt and we know you held up your end if something goes wrong on it's way to us.

We do have access to our returns labels for a certain period of time, if you've lost your satchel please reach out to us here, and we'll send you the label if we can. If we no longer have access to the label, we can give you our address for return.

Or if you are in the area, feel free to reach out, and we could organise a drop-off.

We highly recommend adding an 'Untouched' TENS Money-back Guarantee to your order, it covers you for non-use of the machine. See the product description for full information on the guarantee and eligibility criteria.

If you've not ordered the Money-back Guarantee and you don’t get to use it for labour, it doesn’t mean it is totally useless to you; TENS machines have been shown to naturally help improve all types of pain.

Should you feel it is not something you can find a use for at all, you can send it back as planned whenever you are ready before the end date, though we, unfortunately, cannot offer a refund in these circumstances if the machine has already been dispatched and the money-back guarantee hasn't been purchased.

If your order hasn’t been dispatched yet message us on Facebook, Instagram or send us an email here as soon as possible.

Unfortunately though if it has been sent there may not be much we can do, as your hire begins once it leaves our warehouse.