Spinal Cord Stimulation – The Most Dependable Method for Pain Relief

Just like any other chronic pain management therapy, spinal cord stimulation also has its own advantages and disadvantages. Usually the largest disadvantage is it doesn’t work for all. Most researches show that around 50 to 60% of patients who undergo neurostimulation get significant pain relief.

Advantages

There are several advantages of spinal cord or in other words, peripheral field, stimulation for treating chronic back pain, like:

• A trial can be conducted for patient’s response before s/he goes for a permanent implant
• Fewer side effects and the procedure is easily reversible
• Implantation is minimally invasive. Only a minor surgical procedure is required on an outpatient basis.
• Leads are inserted subcutaneously and patient can travel freely and take part in any entertainment activities like swimming.

Disadvantages

Like with any other pain treatment, spinal cord stimulation has several potential disadvantages too, like:

• It doesn’t work for all. 50 to 60% patients get significant relief.
• It doesn’t totally remove pain. Successful procedures give pain relief up to 50% or more.
• The treatment involves a surgery and an implant. As with any surgery and implant, there are some risks associated with this surgery.

However, spinal cord stimulation has been considered the most effective treatment for chronic pain as on today and continuous researches are going on to improve its efficacy.