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New Developments in Spinal Stimulation for Pain Management

Nov 20, 2018 | Markus (Mark) A. Bendel, M.D. | @markusabendelmd | Comments (59)

patient and provider looking at spinal column

Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has been a medical treatment available for certain types of chronic pain for over 50 years.  In general, this minimally invasive therapy involves putting a small lead in the spinal canal and using electrical energy from a battery to stimulate the sensory nerves of the spinal cord. This has been shown to decrease chronic pain from a variety of conditions.

There has been a rapid expansion of technologies and therapies in this area over the past few years.  Physicians are now able to treat certain pains more effectively than ever before. These new technologies are related to both better equipment technology, stimulation targets, and also how the electrical energy is delivered to the spine and nerves. In addition to treating chronic nerve pain, there have been improvements in the ability to treat chronic back pain, post-knee surgery pain, post-hernia repair pain, and foot pain. Traditionally, patients who have a spinal cord stimulator would feel a pleasant, buzzing sensation (called a paresthesia) in the area of their pain. Now, certain technologies allow for stimulation without creating this sensation, which some patients prefer. Other new technology allows for more specific stimulation of a particular area of the body, which has been shown to be valuable for certain pain problems. Many systems now are compatible with MRI machines which had been a hurdle for some patients in the past.

Generally, a pain medicine physician would be a good source of information to determine if a certain technology would be beneficial for an individual patient. All of this means that there are more options than ever before to treat a wide variety of patients!

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4 Reactions

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stantallusa | @stantallusa | Feb 11 6:59am
In reply to @lulufp1975 "Hello, My name is Luanne @lulufp1975, I am new to this group. In June of 2021..." + (show)
@lulufp1975

Hello, My name is Luanne @lulufp1975,
I am new to this group. In June of 2021 I was walking to my car after a lovely lunch when a car backed into my body. I have damage to my spine, disc and severe nerve damage. I have a Spine and Pain management specialist that I love. I have been receiving epidural injections, and oblations to different areas. I was seeing an acupuncturist three times a week. I did physical therapy. And right now I regularly see a chiropractor who I love. Not old school chiropractic where he does now manipulating and massaging. I also listen to high frequency, music which helps. Energy healing. Yesterday I saw my neurologist. And we talked about. The HF10 spinal cord stimulation system. I’ve been doing a lot of research and there’s always so much information pointing both ways to the pros and cons. I have post traumatic stress due to this injury. And I would say on a hole I am improving but I get very discouraged because I take one step forward and two steps back. On February 1 I had an ablation in my lower right side of my back and I’m due to have an ablation on the left side on 29 February. since then I have had very minimal pain in that area. But now pain has started in another area in my middle left side of my back. So that is why we were discussing the HF10 implant. as I have been very leery about surgery. I was wondering if there are any recent updates on this device and if anyone can point me to those that have had success with it. I do know that with anything there is always risks. But what I wanna know is with the advancement in technology are the risks less? Thank you all for your input.

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I wanted this stimulator but was talked into a Medtronic one instead by the doctor.
I am not a fan of these things. Might just be the Medtronic one however.
Hoping someone who has the one you are talking about responds. I would be interested in what they have to say

REPLY
Moderator
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Feb 11 7:32am
In reply to @lulufp1975 "Hello, My name is Luanne @lulufp1975, I am new to this group. In June of 2021..." + (show)
@lulufp1975

Hello, My name is Luanne @lulufp1975,
I am new to this group. In June of 2021 I was walking to my car after a lovely lunch when a car backed into my body. I have damage to my spine, disc and severe nerve damage. I have a Spine and Pain management specialist that I love. I have been receiving epidural injections, and oblations to different areas. I was seeing an acupuncturist three times a week. I did physical therapy. And right now I regularly see a chiropractor who I love. Not old school chiropractic where he does now manipulating and massaging. I also listen to high frequency, music which helps. Energy healing. Yesterday I saw my neurologist. And we talked about. The HF10 spinal cord stimulation system. I’ve been doing a lot of research and there’s always so much information pointing both ways to the pros and cons. I have post traumatic stress due to this injury. And I would say on a hole I am improving but I get very discouraged because I take one step forward and two steps back. On February 1 I had an ablation in my lower right side of my back and I’m due to have an ablation on the left side on 29 February. since then I have had very minimal pain in that area. But now pain has started in another area in my middle left side of my back. So that is why we were discussing the HF10 implant. as I have been very leery about surgery. I was wondering if there are any recent updates on this device and if anyone can point me to those that have had success with it. I do know that with anything there is always risks. But what I wanna know is with the advancement in technology are the risks less? Thank you all for your input.

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@lulufp1975 and @stantallusa, there are several discussions in the Chronic Pain and Spine Health support groups comparing and discussing different stimulator.

Use Search to find relevant topics. Here are a few search results that may help:
- https://connect.mayoclinic.org/search/discussions/?search=HF10+implant
- https://connect.mayoclinic.org/search/discussions/?search=stimulator

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kenc | @kenc | Feb 11 10:27am

It helped during the try out phase, but was not very helpful after it was installed.

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1 reply
merlek2a | @merlek2a | Feb 12 12:16pm
In reply to @kenc "It helped during the try out phase, but was not very helpful after it was installed." + (show)
@kenc

It helped during the try out phase, but was not very helpful after it was installed.

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I have af Chb by Boston Scientific. Not the latest one, but helpful nonetheless. Not a magic bullet, but better with it than without it.

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1 reply
kenc | @kenc | Feb 12 12:52pm
In reply to @merlek2a "I have af Chb by Boston Scientific. Not the latest one, but helpful nonetheless. Not a..." + (show)
@merlek2a

I have af Chb by Boston Scientific. Not the latest one, but helpful nonetheless. Not a magic bullet, but better with it than without it.

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I have Boston Scientific model too, but happy to read that you are having better results than I have had.

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1 reply
merlek2a | @merlek2a | Feb 12 8:37pm
In reply to @kenc "I have Boston Scientific model too, but happy to read that you are having better results..." + (show)
@kenc

I have Boston Scientific model too, but happy to read that you are having better results than I have had.

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I’ve been working closely w the Boston Scientific rep., and have met with her and her colleagues several times over the past 2 years to reprogram the stimulator, and try different programs, particularly as symptoms change. For a long time I wondered whether or not it was actually helping or doing anything, until I got careless about checking the status of the battery, and realized that it had drained. That correlated with a really bad time I was having w pain, so it told me that the stimulator was actually doing something. Until that happened, I really wasn’t sure.

Chronic pain is such a complex phenomenon, and Medicine has so few answers, that each patient has to find which modalities and medications work for them. I know I would be lost without my
1) Neurontin (gabapentin, the generic, didn’t do anything for me; it was like having no meds on board)
2) low dose THC gummies (the green apple flavour made by Hedy, that has a 1:54 ratio of THC to CBD, where half a gummy is the tolerable dose for me)
3) high THC topicals (Vireo Red)
4) morphine
5) acetaminophen
6) baclofen (a muscle relaxant), and
7) the spinal cord stimulator.

And even with all of the above, I have a very poor quality of life, because the failed back surgeries have done, and continue to do so much damage, I.e. Adjacent Segment Disease.

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gizmo01 | @gizmo01 | Mar 11 10:01am

My wife has had the Nevro about 5 years the first 2 years it worked great she got a lot of relief since then sh has had a lot of issue she is not getting very little relief and about 3 months ago she started gettin a lot of pain so she turned it off and the pain went away and turned it back on and the pain came back she has an oppointment with Nevro tech to look at the machine she is wanting it removed because the last 3 years it was been worse with it in and it takes over 3 hours to charge it and does not stay charger very long

REPLY
1 reply
Moderator
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Mar 17 2:48pm
In reply to @gizmo01 "My wife has had the Nevro about 5 years the first 2 years it worked great..." + (show)
@gizmo01

My wife has had the Nevro about 5 years the first 2 years it worked great she got a lot of relief since then sh has had a lot of issue she is not getting very little relief and about 3 months ago she started gettin a lot of pain so she turned it off and the pain went away and turned it back on and the pain came back she has an oppointment with Nevro tech to look at the machine she is wanting it removed because the last 3 years it was been worse with it in and it takes over 3 hours to charge it and does not stay charger very long

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Hi @gizmo01, you may wish to join members in these related discussions:
- Anyone had Spinal stimulator removed? Replaced?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/spinal-stimulator/
- How did you get relief with a spinal stimulator? Adjustments?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/nevro-spinal-stimulator-patients/
Search all related discussion: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/search/discussions/?search=nevro%20stimulator

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newstimwaveuser | @newstimwaveuser | Sep 27 1:02pm
In reply to @quark "My pain management doc has recommended Stim Wave intervention for my chronic abdominal pain from my..." + (show)
@quark

My pain management doc has recommended Stim Wave intervention for my chronic abdominal pain from my cystectomy and inguinal hernia repair. The stinging, burning pain is near my stoma. He claims very good results with this technology, and any input, pro or con, would be appreciated.

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I have had Stimwave SCS for six years for lumbar pain and it has been a life saver!
I highly recommend it.

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