If you’re plagued with debilitating back pain that even surgery doesn’t seem to touch, you may benefit from spinal cord stimulation, or SCS. Every year, 14,000 patients around the world turn to SCS to find relief from back pain with great success. At Beverly Oaks Surgery, Dr. David E. Rogers offers this effective treatment to his patients in Sherman Oaks, California, allowing them to move about freely again without pain. If you’ve tried everything to relieve your back pain with little success, call to see if SCS is right for you or book an appointment online today!
Spinal Cord Stimulation Q & A
What is spinal cord stimulation?
Spinal cord stimulation was first used in 1967 and subsequently approved by the FDA in 1989 to relieve pain from nerve damage in your legs, arms, or trunk. SCS works by delivering a mild electrical stimulation to your nerves along your spine through a small device — this stimulation interferes with your nerve’s ability to send pain messages to your brain.
What conditions can SCS treat?
If you’ve had one or more back or neck surgeries, and still you’re in pain, you’re not alone. In fact, there’s even a name for the problem: Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (FBSS). FBSS is the most common reason people seek SCS.
Increasingly, the medical community is turning to SCS for a host of other pain issues, including:
- Chronic neck or back pain
- Complex regional pain syndrome
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Arachnoiditis, an inflammation of the protective layers of your spinal nerves
As an orthopedic spine surgeon, Dr. Rogers has extensive experience evaluating and treating pain originating in the spine, and he’ll help you to determine whether SCS would provide relief for your problem.
What is the procedure for getting SCS?
If you and Dr. Rogers decide that SCS is the best course of action, the first step is to undergo a trial run to make sure the treatment works for your pain issue. Instead of implanting the SCS device, Dr. Rogers inserts thin wires equipped with electrodes into your back for up to a week to see how you respond. These wires produce the same effect as the more permanent SCS procedure. The trial period allows you to test your body’s responsiveness to the treatment without having to commit to SCS.
If your trial run is a success, Dr. Rogers implants the permanent leads along your spine in a minimally invasive procedure that he performs in his office. In order to power the electrodes. Dr. Rogers also places a small generator under your skin, typically in your abdomen, buttocks, or chest.
SCS is considered quite safe and has several advantages over other treatment methods including:
- The procedure is reversible and the wiring and generator can be removed at any time
- The electrical stimulations can be adjusted
- It’s less invasive than surgery
- It reduces opioid use
To learn more about the potential of SCS in treating your chronic pain, call Beverly Oaks Surgery or book an appointment online.