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Is Spinal Cord Stimulation Right for Your Chronic Back Pain?
Don’t let chronic back pain keep you from doing the things you love, or even simply sitting or standing comfortably. If other treatments haven’t alleviated your pain, it might be time to consider spinal cord stimulation (SCS).
As an expert in back pain, Ike Malik, MD, can help you decide if this kind of pain management could be right for you. Visit Dr. Malik and our team at Texas Pain & Orthopedics in Pflugerville, Texas, to explore SCS for yourself.
SCS 101
A spinal cord stimulator does what it sounds like: It stimulates your spinal cord. Specifically, it sends low-level electrical impulses. These can interrupt the electrical impulses sent by your nerves that your brain reads as pain signals. This gives many people a large measure of pain relief.
For the stimulation to disrupt pain signaling, this technology requires implantation. You get a tiny stimulator implanted under the surface of your skin, usually around your flank. Then, your surgeon feeds electrodes (tiny wires) to your spinal cord so they can deliver the necessary electrical impulses.
But does it work? A recent retrospective study looked at outcomes for more than 500 patients. It found that at follow-ups between 3 and 34 months later, more than 76% of people maintained significant improvement. It’s also notable that opioid use had dropped almost 60% across the patients.
In other words, spinal cord stimulation often delivers lasting pain relief without supplemental drugs.
How to decide if spinal cord stimulation is right for you
SCS shouldn’t be a first-line treatment. Before you consider getting a stimulator implanted, talk with Dr. Malik about more conservative treatments like physical therapy or platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy.
If you’ve already explored other treatments and haven’t found relief, then it’s time to look at spinal cord stimulation. It can be effective when other options have failed to alleviate your chronic back pain.
The benefits of a trial run
You might be worried that you’ll fall into the group of people who don’t get relief with SCS. That’s why this treatment starts in a specific way.
Before you get a permanently implanted stimulator, you can try SCS out. During a trial, you wear a temporary stimulator on a belt outside your body. A surgeon then connects that to your spine with tiny implanted wires. The process for placing those electrical leads is minimally invasive, giving you a way to see if spinal cord stimulation works for you before you commit.
If nothing else has worked for your chronic back pain, talk to Dr. Malik about starting your own SCS trial. Call our office or book your appointment online today.
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