If those and other minimally-invasive interventions don’t work, then your doctor may recommend a spinal cord stimulator. Many people first try to resolve their pain with physical therapy, activity modification, or chiropractic care. Typically, patients who are researching living with spinal cord stimulators have traveled the long road of more conservative treatments without success.īecause it involves a two-stage, surgical process, however, spinal cord stimulation is not a first-line treatment of chronic pain for the vast majority of people. Spinal cord stimulators are not for just any type or severity of pain. Less medication, less pain, more of the life you want to lead – these are all possible with a spinal cord stimulator. Living with a spinal cord stimulator also means in many cases that patients take fewer opioids and other pain medications. While it is unclear exactly how spinal cord stimulators work to relieve pain, it seems to be a combination of mechanisms at work in the body and the brain. This means that when it is successful, the patient can resume the majority of their regular activities without worrying about chronic pain. A remote with an antenna controls the level of stimulation that interrupts pain signals. People living with chronic pain report that they are able to get back to their normal lives, with less pain and more mobility.Ī spinal cord stimulator is an implanted device that is controlled outside the body by the patient. That’s the short answer, but it holds true for the majority of patients who are good candidates for spinal cord stimulation. Living with a spinal cord stimulator for many people means living with less than half the pain they experienced in the past. What’s it like living with a spinal cord stimulator? Whether you are already living with a spinal cord stimulator or still weighing your options, here’s answers to some of your most frequently asked questions about this pain management approach. It’s always good to talk to your doctor for specific questions relating to your pain condition, but Arizona Pain can help. It can also bring up a lot of questions, though. This device can help you get back to pain-free daily activities. A novel feature is the current-field modulation ability of the stimulator for surface electrode arrays.If you have been looking for chronic pain relief and haven’t found it with more conservative treatments, chances are good you’ve considered a spinal cord stimulator. The system has the goal to improve control of stimulation conditions in electrophysiological studies and time-dependent and site-specific stimulation patterns for neuromodulation applications.
Current-field modulation throughout a sixteen-electrode array was achieved. The stimulator generates arbitrary biphasic waveforms with a 5-bit resolution and high temporal precision (<10 μs) and was demonstrated to stimulate posterior lumbar root fibers in transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (tSCS) treatment selectively. A graphical user interface (GUI) was developed to control stimulation parameters and current-field within a multi-electrode array wirelessly.
The goal is to make electrical stimulation with surface electrodes more specific. A microcontroller-controlled electrical stimulator system delivering a single pulse was designed, suitable for current-field modulation. Selective electrical stimulation using a multielectrode array is a promising technique that can potentially bring electrical stimulation treatment modalities a step forward.