Everyone who has experienced chronic back or neck pain will attest to the dependence on opioids to relieve them from pain. However, with spinal cord stimulation, the case is different. Your Livingston spinal cord stimulation specialists help patients manage and control pain by masking pain signals before they get to your brain. SCS will minimize your dependence on opioids and help you manage your chronic pain.
Why would your doctor recommend spinal stimulation to treat your chronic back pain?
Spinal cord stimulation has several advantages including:
- Before the actual treatment, your doctor will first put you through a trial stimulation to evaluate your stimulation response. The trial will prevent you from committing to a permanent treatment that might fail to work for you.
- Being a minimally invasive procedure, you will not have an extensive scar.
- The process has few side effects.
- You can easily talk to your doctor to remove the implant if you do not need it anymore or it has failed to be effective.
- Spinal cord stimulation minimizes or eliminates your dependence on opioids.
- Since the implant is beneath your skin, you can travel anywhere and participate in your favorite sport or activity without worrying.
- The treatment allows you to adjust your stimulation depending on your pain’s severity.
How will you know if spinal stimulation is the pain treatment you need?
Your doctor will recommend the treatment if you have
- Peripheral vascular disease
- Refractory angina
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)
- Pain after going through back surgery
- Chronic back pain or neck pain that does not result from movement
- Chronic pain after inguinal hernia repair
What should you expect during spinal cord stimulation?
After a thorough assessment of your medical history, your doctor will prepare you for the procedure. He will request you to lie on your chest before administering light aesthesia. The expert will then prep your treatment areas where he plans to place the generator and the leads.
Next, your care provider will make a tiny incision at your back’s middle section before inserting the electrode leads with the guide of fluoroscopy. The process will prompt your doctor to remove a portion of your bony arch to pave the way for the leads, which he will position in your epidural space before securing with sutures.
At this stage, your doctor might wake you up to assess your response. Once the professional fixes the leads, he will pass the wires under your skin from your spine to the generator’s purported location. The care provider will then make a small incision below your waistline to create your generator’s pocket. Your doctor will then attach the lead wire to your generator before correctly positioning your generator in the skin pocket.
The expert will finalize the process by closing the incisions with dermabond skin glue and sutures before dressing the treatment area. After the treatment, your doctor might suggest restrictions to help facilitate your healing process.
Sometimes chronic pain can become drug resistant and you might find the pain unbearable despite trying several treatment options. Talk to the spine experts at Samwell Institute for Pain Management today and learn more about your possibility of neurostimulation with spinal cord stimulation.