Chronic pain patients face unique challenges in the coming year. We all want to start the New Year right, but, if you’re living with chronic pain, you may have some different New Year’s Resolutions, including learning more about treatments and therapies that could lastingly improve your symptoms.
Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is a consistent, effective, and long-lasting way to treat some types of chronic pain. Board-certified interventional pain management physicians Dr. Nichelle C. Renk and Dr. Gavin Nixon provide SCS treatment at Alpenglow Pain & Wellness of Anchorage, Alaska.
In this blog, they share five signs you may be a candidate for spinal cord stimulation.
Pain that lasts beyond a few weeks or months, or beyond your expected recovery period, is considered chronic. SCS is an excellent treatment option for some types of chronic pain. That’s because chronic pain often involves abnormal pain activity and communication levels between your spinal cord and your brain.
With SCS, your implanted Nevro HF10® spinal cord stimulation device delivers a low-intensity electrical current that blocks pain signals at their source, preventing them from reaching your brain. This type of treatment works best for chronic pain that’s localized in a part of your body like your back, legs, or arms.
Before trying SCS, you should have explored other strategies for chronic pain relief. SCS offers a good option for people who haven’t found sufficient symptom relief from treatments and therapies such as medication management or nerve blocks.
SCS is somewhat invasive, involving the implantation of a small device beneath your skin, so you should exhaust less invasive options before considering SCS. However, if you’ve tried to rid yourself of chronic pain symptoms without success, SCS provides another path forward.
Some of the pain patients served best by SCS are people with Post-Laminectomy Syndrome, Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (FBSS), Painful Peripheral Diabetic Neuropathy (PPDM) or Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). SCS relieves neuropathic pain related to nerve damage which may not be treatable with other approaches.
Since SCS treatment involves surgery, you should be in overall good physical health before undergoing the procedure. This reduces your risk of complications during and after surgery.
If you have an infection, a bleeding disorder, or suffer from severe spinal deformity, SCS may not be right for you. Younger and more active patients may benefit most from SCS treatment. Your provider at Alpenglow Pain & Wellness discusses your lifestyle and goals with you when developing your interventional pain management plan.
SCS treatment can deliver significant results, but also requires a significant commitment from you, especially in terms of your time. That’s because of the multiple steps, including trials, involved in this type of therapy.
A 3-8 day trial allows you to determine if SCS relieves your chronic pain symptoms before undergoing surgical device implantation. During the trial, temporary electrode wires are positioned over specifically targeted nerves, and attached to a temporary external pulse generator worn on a belt.
If the trial is successful, Dr. Renk and Dr. Nixon move forward with device implantation. It takes about an hour to complete your procedure.
After implantation, you need to keep several follow-up appointments, as well as commit to continuing device maintenance. The more proactive you can be in your treatment, the more likely you are to experience significant results.
To learn more about SCS and start your New Year with effective pain management, contact Dr. Renk and Dr. Nixon at Alpenglow Pain & Wellness today. Schedule your initial appointment online or over the phone now.
