LIVING WITH A SPINAL CORD STIMULATOR GENERATOR
LIVING WITH A SPINAL CORD STIMULATOR TRIAL

You can program the remote with different settings for relief. Different activities and body positions will need different amounts of electricity. Over time and with help from your doctor, you’ll find the right settings to best control your pain throughout the day. Moving, sitting, and other body positions will need different levels of intensity from your stimulator. The device representative, along with our team, will train you on using your stimulator to best relieve your pain. You’ll need to limit some activities for a few weeks while you heal. You can go home the same day of your surgery.

LIVING WITH A SPINAL CORD STIMULATOR GENERATOR

We also implant a generator under your skin in your back below your waist. We replace the test wires with permanent ones. If you respond well, the second procedure is the permanent implant. The wires can be easily removed at the end of the trial. We’ll track how you use the stimulator and what works to relieve pain. You’ll wear the stimulator for a few days. These wires are connected to a generator that lives outside of your body. You’ll have temporary leads put in percutaneously in your lower back. The first procedure is a test to see how you respond to the stimulator.

LIVING WITH A SPINAL CORD STIMULATOR TRIAL

Getting a stimulator involves two steps. The first step is a temporary trial to see if it will help control your pain. If the stimulator helped with your pain during the trial, the second step makes the stimulator permanent. You don’t have other conditions that prevent you from getting one.Other procedures or surgery won’t help relieve it.Spinal cord stimulators are an option if your pain: When you feel pain, you use the remote to send electric pulses to your spine. You’ll also get a remote to control the stimulator. It’s placed in your lower back, under your skin. The generator is a battery pack that holds the electricity and sends it to your spine.Thin wires, also called electrodes or leads, are put into the space (epidural space) between the spinal cord and the bones (vertebrae) that surround it.There are two parts to a spinal cord stimulator: Some devices can make it so that you don’t feel that sensation at all. Traditionally, spinal cord stimulators make pain feel like light tingling. Heart or peripheral vascular disease not controlled with other treatmentĪ spinal cord stimulator blocks pain by sending low levels of electricity to your spine and nerves.Failed back surgery or other pain after surgery.

Spinal cord stimulators help with pain from: You’ll use it along with other treatments, like medicine or physical therapy. It may even help you reduce your medications. It’s part of your overall treatment plan. Spinal cord stimulators don’t cure what causes your pain.

And we'll help you dial in relief afterward. If you need a spinal cord stimulator, we're with you through every step of the process. If your pain is affecting your day-to-day life and isn’t relieved with other treatments, a spinal cord stimulator may help.Īt UVA, our pain management specialists can help you with stubborn pain. Nerve pain, pain after surgery that won't go away, or other chronic pain you can’t control stops you from fully enjoying life.

Living with a spinal cord stimulator