When your chronic pain fails to respond to conventional medical care, you may find relief from one of today’s most innovative technologies called a spinal cord stimulator. Spinal cord stimulators use mild electrical impulses to block or mask the pain signals transmitted by nerves. When any part of your body is in pain, sensory nerves pick up the message and transmit it to your brain. You only feel the pain after your brain receives and interprets the message.
Spinal cord stimulators effectively reduce your pain by stopping the message from reaching your brain or by masking it so your brain doesn’t understand the message. The source of your pain is still there, but your pain is significantly diminished.
Spinal cord stimulators consist of three parts: a small generator, a wire with multiple electrodes, and a controller. The generator, which produces the electrical impulses, is implanted under the skin of your abdomen, upper buttocks, or chest. The long, flexible wire is threaded along your spine. Your physician uses fluoroscopic imaging to see the wire and place its electrodes near the spinal nerves responsible for sending the pain signals to your brain. Your physician uses the remote controller to initially program the strength and frequency of the electrical impulses. Then you’ll use it to turn your spinal cord stimulator on and off.
You’ll have a trial period with the spinal cord stimulator to determine if it works for you. During your trial, your physician implants the wires, but you’ll wear the generator around your waist. After about one week of wearing the stimulator, you’ll know if it’s effectively relieving your pain. At that point, you can decide to have the generator implanted and keep the device, or your physician can easily remove the wires.
