Peripheral Nerve Stimulation

What is peripheral nerve stimulation?

Peripheral nerve stimulation uses mild electrical impulses to stop specific nerves from sending pain signals to your brain. The technology is similar to spinal cord stimulation, but instead of targeting spinal nerves, it delivers the impulses directly to your peripheral nerves (all the nerves outside your spinal cord and brain).

How do peripheral nerve stimulators work?

There are several types of peripheral nerve stimulation devices. Some stay in place indefinitely, while others, by design, come out in a few months. However, they all work the same way.

Your provider threads very thin lead wires under your skin, placing the electrodes along the targeted nerve. They implant a tiny pulse generator under your skin and attach it to the wires. 

The battery-operated generator sends the impulses through the electrodes and into the nerve. You have a remote control device that adjusts the generator’s settings to deliver maximum pain relief.

When might I need peripheral nerve stimulation?

Your Advanced Spine and Pain Center provider considers peripheral nerve stimulation when you have chronic pain that hasn’t improved with medicine and other conservative therapies.

Advanced Spine and Pain Center often uses peripheral nerve stimulation for nerve injuries. However, it helps any pain that’s associated with a specific, identifiable peripheral nerve.

In addition to nerve injuries, peripheral nerve stimulation eases pain from or in the following:

• Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)
• Peripheral neuropathy (including diabetic neuropathy)
• Postherpetic neuralgia
• Shoulder 
• Back 
• Hip 
• Foot 
• Knee and leg 

Your provider may also recommend peripheral nerve stimulation when pain persists despite surgery or when surgery isn’t an option.

What happens during a peripheral nerve stimulation procedure?

The first step is a peripheral nerve stimulation trial. Your provider identifies the nerve causing your chronic pain and then uses X-ray or ultrasound guidance to place the wires along the nerve.

During the trial, you wear the pulse generator. After using the device for about a week, you’ll know if you want to keep it and have the generator implanted.

If it didn’t give you enough pain relief and you want to find another treatment, your provider easily removes the wires. 

If you’re searching for pain relief, look no further than the experts at Advanced Spine and Pain Center. Call the nearest office or request an appointment online today.