How to Know if Spinal Cord Stimulation Is Right for You

If you’re suffering chronic pain, you’re seeking immediate and lasting relief. The caring staff at Apollo Pain Management in Sun City Center, Florida, are experts at treating chronic and intense pain. You’re in safe hands as your double-board certified pain management physician coordinates with your primary care and other physicians and implements pain management strategies that provide you with the help you’ve been looking for. 

One possible treatment option is spinal cord stimulation (SCS). Following are conditions that make spinal cord stimulation (SCS) an option for your pain.

Chronic back or neck pain 

Chronic pain is defined as pain that has lasted more than three months with no break. It may be a constant dull, aching pain or it may be an intermittent intense, shooting, burning pain. Your pain may reside in your neck or back with or without corresponding arm or leg pain. 

Chronic pain is debilitating and disabling. Research concludes and clinical evidence shows that it affects every aspect of your life, from your sleep and brain function to your cardiovascular and sexual health. 

Back and neck pain can have many causes. Some of the more common conditions caused by musculoskeletal back and neck pain include the following conditions: 

• Sciatica
• Herniated disc
• Spinal stenosis
• Osteoarthritis
• Spondylosis
• Spondylolisthesis

If conservative treatments such as physical therapy and steroid injections have failed, spinal cord stimulation is a reasonable option to try. 

Neuropathy

Spinal cord treatment is considered the gold standard of treatment for pain relief if you have neuropathy, or nerve damage. It is cost-effective, especially when compared with long term use of drugs that don’t bring satisfactory relief. 

Your neuropathy may be the result of any number of reasons, from infection, chemotherapy, vitamin deficiency from poor nutrition, or other etiology. Nerve damage causes the nerves to continue sending pain signals after you’ve healed from an accident or illness. The nerve damage can reside in your central nervous system, the brain and spinal cord, or your peripheral nervous system, the nerves that branch out from the spinal cord, sending burning pain to your extremities.

Chronic regional pain syndrome 

If you’ve been diagnosed with chronic regional pain syndrome (CRPS), you’ve likely already tried a number of treatments without success. CRPS causes life disruption with symptoms including burning pain, swelling, and/or decreased mobility and flexibility. 

We recommend spinal cord stimulation as an option right away. Waiting makes the condition more difficult to treat. SCS brings relief to many patients. 

SCS trial 

An SCS trial is part of the protocol for having an SCS. The trial helps you and your physician know if SCS has a good chance of working for you and reducing your pain. A temporary wire is placed in your epidural space and connected to an electrode covering the painful area. The electrode is connected to a programmable neurostimulator, a small device taped to the skin on your back that you control. If your pain is reduced by 50%, the trial is considered a success, and you may decide to have the spinal cord stimulator implanted.  

Ask your primary care physician for a referral to Apollo Pain Management, and we will arrange an appointment for you. Modern technology has transformed pain management, and our practice uses the latest advances.