Chronic Back pain is perhaps the biggest cause of disability in the United States today. Fully half of all working Americans suffer from back pain at some point each year. It is adding up to more than 264 million lost days from work.
Occasional back pain is one issue. When it becomes chronic, that is, lasting more than 12 weeks, it’s a serious impediment to every aspect of life.
Chronic back pain can be difficult to treat. Your spine is a complex structure, and sometimes the sources of pain aren’t easy to pinpoint. For many chronic back pain sufferers, treatment consists of pain management. Such management can have side effects and diminishing effectiveness over time.
When drug therapy no longer controls your pain, an implanted spinal cord stimulator may be the answer.
How spinal cord stimulators work
Once your body generates pain signals, they travel as tiny electrical signals through nerve tissue to the brain. Then, the brain interprets the sensations you feel.
Spinal cord stimulation therapy works by introducing another electrical signal along the same nerve pathways as your pain. While the pain signals remain, the artificial signal disrupts how your brain interprets the information from the nerve.
This disruption masks pain, reducing or eliminating the pain you feel. Successful spinal cord stimulation occurs when your pain level drops about 50% or greater. This outcome often reduces the amount of strength of the medications you need to control the remaining pain.
Since this can reduce or prevent the need for opioid medications, spinal cord stimulation is a potentially essential addition to a back-pain management plan.
The implantation process
Successful spinal cord stimulation is usually a two-part process. First, a trial stimulation process followed by the placement of a permanent implant. The reason for this, every patient can respond differently to the signals generated by the stimulator.
If the trial is successful, the pain specialist will implant a permanent signal generator in the hip and buttock area. The implant will have wire leads feeding to the target area around the nerves at the spine. Different types of signal generators can produce waves. The low-frequency waves replace pain signals with a tingling sensation, while high-frequency signals and pulse burst units produce no tingling sensation.
Candidates for spinal cord stimulators
Spinal cord stimulators may be an effective option for your chronic back pain if you fall into one of the following categories:
- Conventional conservative treatment options have failed
- You’ve previously undergone back surgery without pain relief
- Additional surgery is unlikely to address your pain condition
- Additional surgery may be complex or risky
- You have no medical conditions that will conflict with spinal cord stimulators
- You’ve had a successful stimulator trial
When you’re ready to take the next step in your chronic back pain management, it’s time to contact a spinal cord stimulation expert, like Dr. Teddrick Dunson at Thrive Pain Management.
Dr. Dunson can evaluate your current health, review your pain history, and help devise a pain management plan that lets you get on with your life without restriction or limitation. Call the office today at 469-351-3432, or use the online booking tool to arrange your personal consultation. You can also send a message to Dr. Dunson and the team here on the website.
