5 Conditions That Spinal Cord Stimulation Can Treat

More than 51 million American adults live with chronic pain, and a significant portion of them have a spine condition that is causing it. For many, the standard treatments like physical therapy, injections, and oral medications offer partial relief at best. For those looking for better relief, spinal cord stimulation is a minimally invasive treatment option that has helped patients with some of the most stubborn and difficult-to-treat spine conditions. 

Read on to learn more about how spinal cord stimulation works, the conditions that it can successfully treat, and where to find the best pain doctor in Los Angeles for treatment.

What is Spinal Cord Stimulation?

Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) involves a small, implantable device that is placed under the skin and sends gentle electrical pulses to the spinal cord. This gentle electrical pulse interrupts pain signals before they reach the brain, so instead of feeling sharp pain, burning pain, or aching sensations, you feel little to nothing at all. Unlike most surgical procedures, SCS starts with a trial period, where you wear a temporary version of the device for about a week to find out whether it reduces your pain before you ever commit to a permanent implant.

Top Five Spine Conditions That Can Be Treated with Spinal Cord Stimulation

Surgery and medication are often not the best choice for spine conditions, especially if: 

• You don’t want to take medications long-term 
• Medications have stopped working for you
• Surgery has failed before
• You want to avoid surgery or need to delay surgery

Spinal cord stimulation works by targeting the pain signals before they ever reach the brain. It is also reversible, and it has strong clinical evidence behind it for a range of specific conditions, including: 

1. Spinal Stenosis

Your spine has a narrow channel running through it that protects the spinal cord, and when that channel becomes narrow, a condition called spinal stenosis, the pressure it puts on surrounding nerves can make everyday movements painful. 

Spinal stenosis most often develops in the lower back or neck as a result of years of natural wear on the spine. Bone spurs grow, ligaments thicken, and the space the spinal cord needs gets smaller. 

Treatments like physical therapy and anti-inflammatory medications can help in the early stages, but for people whose pain no longer responds to those options, spinal cord stimulation offers a path forward that does not require restructuring the spine. Because SCS works by changing how the brain receives pain signals rather than altering spinal anatomy, it can be a strong option for patients who are older, have other health conditions, or are not good candidates for spinal decompression surgery.

2. Chronic Leg or Arm Pain 

Radiculopathy is what happens when a nerve root in the spine gets compressed or irritated, sending pain shooting down into the arm or leg along the path of that nerve. It can be caused by a herniated disc pressing against a nerve, bone spurs narrowing the spaces where nerve roots exit the spine, or damage left behind from a previous injury. 

Many patients cycle through epidural steroid injections, nerve blocks, and oral medications that take the edge off the pain without fully resolving it. For those patients, spinal cord stimulation targets the specific nerve pathways responsible for the burning and shooting sensations, dialing down the signal before it reaches the brain. 

3. Failed Back Surgery Syndrome 

There is a particular kind of discouragement that comes with going through back surgery, enduring the recovery, and then realizing the pain is still there. Failed back surgery syndrome describes exactly that situation. This can happen when scar tissue forms around nerve roots, nerves can remain compressed or become newly irritated, and the structural changes made during surgery can sometimes create new sources of pain. 

FBSS is the most common reason back pain patients receive a spinal cord stimulator in both the United States and Europe, and a recent meta-analysis found that more than half of patients experienced meaningful pain relief from SCS regardless of how many prior spinal surgeries they had undergone. 

4. Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is one of the most difficult-to-treat chronic pain conditions known to medicine. The nervous system, for reasons that are not fully understood, gets stuck in a loop of transmitting pain long after a physical injury has healed. It typically develops after an injury, surgery, or even a minor trauma, and instead of fading as the body heals, the pain intensifies and spreads. For a condition that often leaves patients with few good options, SCS is now recognized as one of the best-supported treatments available.

5. Peripheral Neuropathy

Peripheral neuropathy is a condition that develops when the nerves responsible for sensation in the hands, feet, and legs are damaged or stop functioning the way they should. Diabetes is the most common cause, but the condition can also develop as a result of chemotherapy, HIV, heavy alcohol use, or jobs that involve repetitive physical motion over many years. Those with painful diabetic neuropathy, in particular, can get a meaningful reduction in nerve pain. 

Research shows that SCS therapy can provide comparable pain relief to opioid medications without the associated risks and side effects, making it a particularly valuable long-term option for people whose neuropathy pain is chronic, progressive, and unlikely to resolve on its own.

Discover the Best Pain Management Doctor in Los Angeles for Spinal Cord Stimulation Therapy

Chronic pain can feel impossible to live with and even more impossible to find an effective treatment for. Spinal cord stimulation can help by offering pain relief through a completely different mechanism than most treatments. For many patients dealing with spinal stenosis, CRPS, failed back surgery syndrome, and peripheral neuropathy, it has opened a door to living life pain-free and with more mobility and independence. 

At Remedy Health, we work with patients who are looking for an effective way to manage pain without surgery or addictive medications. At our state-of-the-art clinic in Marina del Rey, Dr. Bajaj leads our team of expert pain specialists in providing personalized patient care and long-term pain management strategies.

Ready to finally get relief from chronic pain with the best spinal cord stimulation in Los Angeles?