A spinal cord stimulator offers long-lasting relief from many conditions that cause chronic pain, but first, you need a spinal cord stimulator trial. At Michigan Advanced Pain & Spine, Martin Quiroga, DO, MBA, and Eduardo Otero Loperena, MD, specialize in these trials, as well as implanting the device and monitoring your results and health for the long run. To learn if you qualify for spinal cord stimulator trials, call the office in Warren, Michigan, or schedule an appointment online today.
A spinal cord stimulator is a medical device that blocks pain signals traveling through the spinal nerves to your brain.
This treatment, called neuromodulation, uses a mild electrical impulse to alter the nerve signals. As a result, your brain either doesn’t get the pain message or receives a jumbled message. As a result, your pain significantly improves.
Sensory nerves throughout your body pick up pain messages and carry the signal through your spinal cord to your brain. Spinal cord stimulation stops nerve signals in the spinal cord, which means the device can relieve pain from anywhere in your body, including your back and neck.
A few of the chronic pain conditions that may improve with a spinal cord stimulator include:
You may also benefit from spinal cord stimulation if you have ongoing pain after failed back surgery.
The device includes a small electrical generator, lead wires, and a remote controller. Your provider guides the lead wires through the epidural space outside your spine, placing them next to the nerves sending pain signals.
Your provider implants the generator under your skin near your hip and connects it to the lead wires; then, they use the remote control device to program the controller. You keep the controller and use it to turn the generator on and off.
A trial gives you time to test out the spinal cord stimulator and see how well it improves your pain. During the trial, your provider inserts the lead wires, and you wear the generator.
After about one week of testing the device, you decide if it relieved your pain well enough to keep it. If you don’t want the device after your trial, your provider can easily remove the lead wires.
To qualify for the device, you need to:
You also can’t have a medical condition that might prevent implantation.
To learn if you qualify for a spinal cord stimulator trial, call Michigan Advanced Pain & Spine or book an appointment online today.
