WAVE’s mechanism of action was postulated by Dr. Kermit E. Krantz to be:

“…… the pain was relieved through the mechanism of disturbing or stimulating (to the point of anesthetizing) the conductivity of the ​afferent pain fibers primarily in the utero-sacral ligaments and the Frankenhaüser plexus. The effect of the VIPON unit is similar to that of ​TENS units, uterosacral blocks which use lidocaine and other local anesthetics that have been employed to control labor pain and ​menstrual cramping.”

Footnotes:

1. the VIPON was the predecessor to WAVE
2. TENS devices use a different mechanism of action, the “gate theory of pain”
3. “Investigation in vivo of the Effects and Safety of VIPON Tampons“ by Dr. Kermit E. Krantz, Chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Kansas School of Medicine (KU).