What Is Spinal Cord Stimulation? A Tulsa Pain Doctor Answers Real Patient Questions | SEVA Healthcare

"When I think about my typical patient with a spinal cord stimulation need, I am typically presented with a patient who has had years of back pain and has had back surgery before this is considered. These are individuals that have had back pain throughout their life, have tried various injections and interventions, and then have had surgery but have residual pain for years that escalates to a point where they are not functional."

"Before they get spinal cord stimulation, these are people that are constantly taking pain medications, are bedridden often, they cannot do activities of daily living, they have spasms all the time, any movement hurts, they have pain radiating down their legs, and it is a very depressing place for people."

"Once they have spinal cord stimulation, the switch is pretty abrupt. Without pain medications, they see their quality of life just drastically increase and improve. Their activity increases, their pain medication usage decreases, their involvement in the community, in their family, and their presence improves."

"It is pretty much a life-changing therapy. And that is why we often prescribe it, because it is one of those therapies that if it works today, it works in 10 years. It is unlike other therapies that may dwindle in their efficacy. Spinal cord stimulation is something that once you try it and choose to go forward with it, it helps you throughout your life."

"It may appear scary when someone thinks about an implant, but this is something that has been around for more than two decades and has had an incredible renaissance recently because of the advance in technology as well as physician adoption. Physicians have become more proficient in installing these and the equipment has become much better."

"Spinal cord stimulation typically intercepts pain messages from the foot, leg, thigh, buttock, back, SI joint, lumbar facet joints, and the low back area, to prevent those messages from reaching the brain."

"We have recently found out that high frequency, such as 10,000 hertz or more, means there are no paresthesias, no tingling. It just replaces pain with no pain. This is an FDA-approved device and an FDA-approved therapy."

"It is one of those few things where you get to try it before you buy it. We have a trial period for a few days, and the patient makes the decision whether they want to move forward or not. Most of my patients come back saying: please do not take the trial out. I love this thing so much."

"For someone who is living with chronic back pain for years, the first thing I would say is: get to your pain management physician as soon as possible. Even if you have not had surgery, spinal cord stimulation may be a good option for you. But certainly the person who has had a failed back surgery or has not recovered from surgery, this is a therapy you absolutely want early rather than late."

"You do not want to escalate pain medications and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories and get side effects from taking more and more medications before you consider this, where there is no side effect when it is installed and works."

"Once you have a spinal cord stimulator installed, you remove the risk of constant injections, constant medications two to three or four times a day, poor sleep issues. And once you have a trial, you know it is going to work. When the trial works, you are convinced this is going to help you and you move forward without a chance of it failing."

"When you have surgery, you do not have that option. You do not know if it is going to work. With spinal cord stimulation, you get to try it for two or three days or up to a week, and you know pretty quickly whether you want it."

"When you are looking for a provider, you want someone who is board certified in anesthesiology or physical medicine and rehabilitation with fellowship training and five to six years of experience. I recommend looking for a doctor who owns or practices in their own surgical center because they have full control over the technology they purchase and program, plus they are going to give you that follow-up care you really need."

"Most people know within 24 hours. With the newer technologies, there is sometimes a 24-hour washout period where it starts working and then it really works for a long period. We give them three or four days, but up to seven days is a usual trial."

"Most people have made that decision in three days and they come back and have it removed. It is very easy to remove. A medical assistant can remove it and it takes about five or six seconds. So it is a really easy procedure to do that trial."