Services | Orthopedics and Pain Medicine Physician located in Edison, Clifton, Hazlet, Jersey City and West Orange, NJ | Garden State Pain & Orthopedics

Spinal Cord Stimulator services offered in Edison, Clifton, Hazlet, Jersey City and West Orange, NJ

If your chronic pain persists in spite of standard treatments, you may be a candidate for a spinal cord stimulator. This device interrupts pain signals at the spinal cord, so they don’t reach your brain and you don’t perceive pain. The doctors at Garden State Pain & Orthopedics have extensive experience implanting spinal cord stimulators, where they significantly diminish pain for many patients. If you’d like to learn more, please call one of their offices in Edison, Clifton, Hazlet, Paramus, or Jersey City, New Jersey, or book an appointment online for an evaluation.

Spinal Cord Stimulator Q & A

What is a spinal cord stimulator?

A spinal cord stimulator is a small medical device that sends mild electric current through your spine. Electric impulses from the stimulator stop nerves in the spine from sending pain signals to your brain. When the flow of sensory information is blocked, you stop feeling pain.

While pain relief is immediate, the degree of comfort achieved varies from one person to the next. For this reason, a temporary external stimulator is used to determine your level of pain relief. If you find it effective, a permanent stimulator is implanted under your skin.

What conditions are treated with a spinal cord stimulator?

Spinal cord stimulation is used to relieve chronic pain of the back, arms, and legs, so it’s considered as a treatment for diverse health conditions. Some of the most common conditions treated with spinal cord stimulation include:

Chronic pain: Caused by conditions such as peripheral neuropathy, arthritis, spinal stenosis
Arachnoiditis: Painful inflammation of protective layers of spinal cord
Sciatica: Compressed sciatic nerve with pain radiating through the leg
Complex regional pain syndrome: Chronic severe pain that affects one limb after an injury

Are you a good candidate for a spinal cord stimulator?

Your doctor at Garden State Pain & Orthopedics thoroughly evaluates your medical history and physical condition to determine whether you’re a good candidate for spinal cord stimulation. It’s considered for pain relief when other treatments have failed to relieve the pain.

Candidates for spinal cord stimulation must also meet these criteria:

No serious dependency on pain medications or other drugs
No success with conservative therapies like exercise
Verified source of pain
No serious psychiatric condition that may contribute to the pain
Success with a spinal cord stimulator trial period

How is a spinal cord stimulator implanted?

Your doctor at Garden State Pain & Orthopedics uses a specialized type of X-ray to guide placement of an insulated wire into the epidural space of your spine. The wire, which contains tiny electrodes, is connected to the electric pulse generator, which holds the battery and sends impulses through the electrodes.

Following a successful trial period, the generator is surgically implanted under your skin, usually in the buttock, abdomen or chest. You use a wireless programmer to control the power level and timing of the electrical signals sent from the generator.