Chronical pain is not treated, and there are close to 100 million people suffering from chronic pain in America today. Many people are force to take pain medication, in an effort to lead a normal life. There is a pain level scale that ranges from 1 to 10, but some patients have pain levels that exceed the maximum scale value.
The pain can be so excruciating that it immobilizes the patients in their home, making them unable to go and get themselves food from the refrigerator or even go to the bathroom, for example.
Neurostimulation devices are recent inventions that have been having a very positive impact lately. Patients with severe chronic pain are the ones that benefit the most from these inventions; those that have upper back pain, for example, will find the new neurostimulators to be extremely beneficial.
Ingesting lots of medications, which can have dangerous side effects, tiring physical therapy and similar treatment or pain management options could be a thing of the past in the very near future. Some people have actually had several surgeries and their pain levels didn’t decrease significantly.
A neurostimulator device, also known as pacemaker for pain, is used as an implant. Basically, the spinal cord area is stimulated using electrical impulses, and this prevents the pain pulses from getting to the brain.
The patient feels the action of the neurostimulator as a slight massage of the area; basically, the entire area that was once affected by pan is now tingly.
Technically speaking, a small electrode is advanced into the epidural space, and that electrode will be connected to a small device – called a “programmer”. The stimulation can be applied to one or both legs, arms, etc, depending on the area that causes pain. The patient is awake at all times during the surgery and he is able to tell the doctors when they have found the perfect spot, annihilating the pain.
The first patients are already benefitting from pacemakers for pain. You can find out more about these devices at Bingham Memorial Hospital’s Website. For more news from Bingham Memorial Hospital, follow Louis Kraml on Twitter and subscribe to the Official Louis Kraml Youtube Channel.
