How New and Improved Spinal Cord Stimulators Offer Drug-Free Relief From Chronic Back Pain

worldwide, about 50% of all working Americans report having back pain at some point each year. For most men and women, it’s a temporary condition that rest and minor treatment can remedy. For some, though, back pain can occur frequently or never go away. Men and women who suffer from chronic back pain can see their lives grind to a halt, making it difficult to work or even provide themselves with daily care.

If you have chronic back pain, a spinal cord stimulator may be able to help you. The pain management specialists at Commonwealth Pain and Spine are very experienced in implanting spinal cord stimulators and helping their patients get relief from pain.

Origins of chronic back pain

There are many causes of back pain. When the pain stems from muscles and soft tissue, your chances for recovery are usually good. Even ruptured spinal discs can heal, sometimes without ever having caused symptoms.

When the pain results from wear and tear on the joints of the spine, however, nerve compression can lead to long-term symptoms. It’s often unclear exactly where or why these pain signals originate. When the cause of chronic back pain can’t be treated, pain management is the next alternative.

Limitations of conventional pain management

Chronic back pain is usually addressed conservatively. This may include physical therapy and over-the-counter medication, but if these don’t produce results, prescription medications and more aggressive therapies may be tried. With the wide range of pain management drugs available, it’s likely that a patient can find relief.

However, while drugs may offer some relief, long-term use of drugs can cause stomach problems and other ailments. Furthermore, you may need to take increased dosages if they lose their effectiveness or your body begins to resist them.

As a drug-free treatment of chronic back pain, next-generation spinal cord stimulators are proving more effective than ever.

The benefits of new spinal cord stimulator technology

Your nerves operate with low-level electrical signals to move muscles and sense your environment. Chronic pain represents a scrambling of these impulses, the details of which aren’t fully understood. Spinal cord stimulators, which are small implanted devices, send out electrical impulses to block the signals of the nerve causing pain.

Previously, spinal cord stimulators had their own potential side effects, most notably tingling sensations that resulted from electrical stimulation. Contemporary high-frequency devices no longer cause this issue. Furthermore, current devices deliver more effective coverage, which can lead to greater pain reduction.

To see if a spinal cord stimulator can help you, book an appointment over the phone with Commonwealth Pain and Spine today.