1. What is Spinal Cord Stimulator and How Does It Work?

 As we get older our bodies start to slow down and as ugly as the word sounds we literally start to deteriorate. However, it is true that with age there comes plenty of beautiful things such as wisdom, success, maybe a family of your own and plenty of other fulfilling things. Unfortunately for all of us, chronic pain is not one of them.

If you suffer from chronic pain, rest assured there is a solution. Spinal Cord Stimulation is the wonderful technology that has presented itself as a result of medical breakthroughs in the 21st century and the benefits are worth paying attention to.

What would you say if your chronic pain can be reduced by 50% – 70%? You would say sign me up, right? Chronic pain relief is just a phone call away.

So let’s explain what it is exactly… Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) is a therapy that masks pain signals before it reaches the brain. It involves a small device (a Spinal Cord Stimulator) being placed underneath your skin through minimally invasive surgery. The device is meant to send mild electric currents to your spinal cord. A small wire carries the currents from a pulse generator to nerve fibers in your spinal cord.

Essentially what this means is less aching and headaches; and more of the lifestyle you’re looking to live without areas of pain such as in your neck and back burdening you. If this sounds like an outlet worth exploring for you, maybe it’s time you contacted a Pain Doctor at Inland Pain Medicine.

The great part about this surgery is that you will undergo a trial period to make sure this specific treatment is right for the conditions that you’re living with. This allows for your pain doctor to narrow down the best solution for you, further making its case as a reliable and safe way to determine what treatments are right for you.

2. Who Can Benefit from Spinal Cord Stimulator?

 Chronic pain is a pain that persists over an usual period of time. Often times it is referred to as “pathological” and becomes more of a condition as opposed to a symptom of some kind of injury. Chronic pain will usually prevent people from being physically active, working, sleeping and overall decrease your quality of life.

If you are someone that can relate to all these things then you may be well suited to benefit from a Spinal Cord Stimulator. In addition, if you have tried other treatments to relieve your chronic pain and they have proved to be unsuccessful this may be a last resort that will be surprisingly beneficial for you. A consultation with a doctor will ultimately determine if you’re in a position to benefit from this surgery.

3. Types of spinal cord stimulators and their differences?

 There is some flexibility when it comes to choosing the right type of spinal cord stimulator. Consulting with your doctor will always be the best way to choose what is right for you. Below you will see 2 different options you have to choose from before you decide to move forward with this type of therapy:

New technology is also allowing the particular treatment to be integrated with everyday devices such as your smart phone. These advances allow for constant adjustment of pain relief depending on a number of things such as the way you are sitting or the way you are sleeping to maximize pain reduction.

4. Effectiveness level of spinal cord stimulators?

 Spinal Cord Stimulation has been proven an effective treatment in numerous studies. SCS can provide long-term pain relief that translates into a better quality of life. While success of treatment is determined on understanding how SCS will work, setting the right expectations with your doctor, making sure you are right for the treatment and ultimately tailoring the technology as best as possible to help you reduce the agony of living with chronic pain.

The effectiveness and benefits of a spinal cord stimulator are in abundance but the first benefit that should be noted is that Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) surgery is reversible. Unlike most surgeries, if you choose this avenue of medicine is no longer for you, the device can be surgically removed and there will be no permanent changes to your spine.

However, once you experience the various benefits of this surgery you may not want to look back. Check out some of them below:

Adjustable Pain Relief

Pain varies from person to person, as a result, handheld controllers allow for pain adjustments to make sure you are in control of your pain relief needs.

Minimally Invasive Procedures

This surgery typically requires one small incision to implant the generator. The lead with electrodes is typically inserted with a hollow needle. Making your recovery time significantly less than other surgeries.

Reduction of Prescription Medicine

Strong prescription drugs can alter more than just the symptoms they are meant to reduce or functions they are meant to enhance. They can result in side-effects we don’t enjoy such as tiredness, depression, mood swings and other health side-effects. Spinal Cord Stimulation is not heavily reliant on prescription medicine such as certain opioids, therefore reducing the reliance and sometimes dangerous addictions to certain medications.

No Refills Needed

The effects of pain relief can last for a very long time and often reduces the need and cost for refills.

Targeted Pain Relief

Unlike medication that can affect the whole body. A spinal cord stimulator focuses on relief where it’s needed, dramatically reducing side-effects in other areas of the body.

Limited or No Side Effects

This procedure doesn’t have the side-effects associated with medications.

Cost-Effective Pain Relief

The costs associated with spinal cord stimulation are significantly less over the course of time in comparison to other treatments.

5. Post-treatment activities and lifestyle

If SCS is right for you the effects on your lifestyle and emotional well-being post-surgery will be felt. There will be check-ins with your doctor and understand that while this treatment is highly effective there are routine check-ups that are necessary to make sure you are maximizing the full benefits of the surgery.

Immediately after the surgery you will develop a game plan with your pain doctor that will include not lifting heavy objects, not engaging in extraneous physical activity, not raising your hands above your head and not irritating the leads that have been implanted. On a long-term  timeline it’s important to understand that everyone’s post treatment is different, some will require more attention and other will require less. The most important thing to note that over time your pain will reduce if there is open dialogue between you and your doctor.

some other angles to take instead of specifying the types might be found in some of the content from this page: https://www.hf10.com/

Please take these sections out and focus on something else I think that would be safer. We don’t know enough about these details specific to the procedures they offer.

Side-effects are addressed similarly   in three times sections. I think this will be confusing for patients. Maybe we can rewrite the paragraphs I have commented on, by unifying info about side-effects into a single paragraph which will clearly describe the real situation related to this aspect of surgery.

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