Is Spinal Cord Stimulation Permanent?

When you make a big decision like buying a car, you go for a test drive first before you commit and hand over your credit card to make a no-return purchase. Now, imagine you can handle your chronic pain in the same way — instead of embarking down a treatment avenue you can’t reverse (think surgery), you can “test drive” the treatment first.

This is possible with spinal cord stimulation (SCS) — in fact, it’s one of the many reasons why more people are turning to this innovative approach at addressing chronic pain. Each year, 50,000 spinal cord stimulators are implanted in the United States and we see this trend continuing to grow.

At Apex Pain Specialists, our pain management team, which is led by Dr. Maziar Massrour and Dr. Naveen Reddy, endeavors to offer our patients solutions that are low on risk and long on pain relief. And we feel that spinal cord stimulation fits this bill quite well. Let’s take a look.

How spinal cord stimulation works

Spinal cord stimulation is a neuromodulation technique in which we disrupt the pain messaging between your spinal cord and your brain with mild electric pulses. To do this, we implant electrodes in the area of your spine where your nerves are actively firing. These leads are powered by a small battery pack which can be programmed with a remote control device.

The electrical impulses can reduce or often alleviate the perception of pain. 

We use this technique to treat a number of painful conditions, including:

• Back pain
• Neuropathic pain
• Phantom limb pain
• Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)

Spinal cord stimulation has also been helpful in addressing failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS), a condition in which a patient experiences no pain relief after spine surgery or, worse, more or different pain. Instead of risking going under the knife again,  spinal cord stimulation can result in improved outcome while reducing one’s overall risk.

Spinal cord stimulation — there is a point of return

There are many benefits that our patients enjoy with spinal cord stimulation, including reducing reliance on pain medications and avoiding surgery.

Another advantage of spinal cord stimulation is that we conduct a trial period first, during which we thread some electrodes into your spinal canal and equip you with an external battery pack.

If this trial period is successful in reducing your pain symptoms, you will be referred for permanent implantation. 

So, if you’re worried about having to undergo major surgery, spinal cord stimulation is a less invasive option.

If you’d like to explore whether you’re a good candidate for spinal cord stimulation, we invite you to call our office in Chandler, Arizona, at 480-820-7246 or book an appointment online with Apex Pain Specialists today.