A Spinal Cord Stimulator may be for you if you’ve had surgery and still experience back pain or sciatica pain; You tried the facet injections, radiofrequency ablation, or epidural injections but cannot find pain relief.
A Spinal Cord Stimulator will help mask the pain so you can get back to everyday activities that you enjoy.
What is a Spinal Cord Stimulator:
Two small wires placed through the epidural space designed to mask the pain signals that your brain sends. Prior to placing the wires, pain generated in the lower back would travel up the spinal cord to the brain where the brain is telling you there is pain and it needs to be fixed.
Once these wires are placed, however, the messaging system is changed. Now it’s telling your brain there’s a massaging sensation or vibrating sensation or possibly no feeling whatsoever.
How it Works:
First you get to try it out. You would have the option to take it home for seven days to see how you experience pain relief. Everything aside from the wires is taped on the outside of the body. Each day a representative will call to see how you are feeling. After the seven days, you will return to my office and we would remove the system and see if you got at least 70% pain relief.
If your answer is yes, we can decide to implant the system inside of you. It takes two small incisions and the system would be within your body. This will allow you to go swimming and enjoy recreational activities without worrying about anything. However, the battery used in the system would need to be replaced every seven to 10 years. Both the implanting and battery change are very simple procedures done right in my office.
