Living With a Spinal Cord Stimulator

Little is as frustrating as pain that carries on, even with treatment. Chronic pain, which lasts for several months or longer, affects nearly one-quarter of adults in the United States in a given year. 

If you’re among them and haven’t found relief from conservative treatments, you may want to consider spinal cord stimulation. The specialists at our Pain Care, LLC locations in Georgia provide this treatment to help restore your comfort, mobility, and quality of life.

Here’s a closer look at spinal cord stimulators, including what to expect once you have one.

Conditions that spinal cord stimulation can treat

While spinal cord stimulation isn’t a first course of treatment, your provider may recommend it if other, more conservative treatments — such as rest, physical therapy, and pain medication — fail to suffice. 

Conditions our pain experts may treat with spinal cord stimulation include:

• Adhesive arachnoiditis
• Arthritis
• Cancer pain
• Chronic back pain or neck pain
• Complex regional pain syndrome
• Degenerative disc disease
• Herniated discs
• Failed back surgery syndrome
• Fibromyalgia
• Neuropathy
• Peripheral vascular disease
• Phantom limb pain
• Sciatica
• Spinal stenosis

Depending on the specifics of your condition and how you respond to the treatment, spinal cord stimulation may allow you to reduce or stop taking pain medication or help you engage more successfully in physical therapy while managing your condition.

How spinal cord stimulators work

Spinal cord stimulators are small medical devices that send mild electrical impulses into your spine’s epidural space. This disrupts pain signals between your spine and brain, making way for lasting relief.

The treatment starts with a trial period that lasts for up to a week. The trial allows you to try the stimulator with an external, versus implanted, device. If your pain level reduces by 50% or more, the trial is considered successful. 

When that’s the case, our team can permanently implant a spinal cord stimulator. As with the trial, you control how much pain relief you receive at any given time using a remote control. 

Life with your spinal cord stimulator

In many ways, your life can go on as usual once your spinal cord stimulator is in place – only with feeling less pain. You can even swim with the device once you’ve recovered from your procedure. 

After your implantation surgery, our team provides care instructions – such as how to treat your suture sites – to ease your recovery. You need to limit certain activities temporarily, too, such as intense workouts and heavy lifting. Pain medication and ice packs can help with any discomfort or swelling. 

Maintaining and using your stimulator

Spinal cord stimulators don’t need much maintenance, but you’ll need to recharge or replace the batteries occasionally, depending on the brand and model. You may also need to adjust the pain control intensity based on certain activities. One setting might work well during exercise, for example, and another while you’re relaxing. 

You can also turn your spinal cord stimulator off at times, such as while you’re driving — because the stimulator can bring a tingling sensation that could be distracting.

Traveling with your stimulator

There’s a chance you’ll set off airport security screening machines with your spinal cord stimulator. If you’re concerned about that, we can provide documentation that allows you to skip the walk-through screening machine. Otherwise, you can simply turn the device off before moving through.

If you have additional questions about spinal cord stimulation or if you want to determine whether you’re a good candidate, call Pain Care, LLC at the location nearest you or submit an appointment request through our website.