Eliminate Chronic Back Pain with a Spinal Cord Stimulator
Carol’s Story
Carol Green was an educator for years. Like all teachers, there were certain expectations for how Carol would teach her students. She would walk behind them while they were working on their assignments and check over their work. If someone dropped something on the floor, Carol would bend down to pick it up. Unfortunately, those simple acts in her life became unbearable and impossible when dealing with her back pain.
“Every step I took, every movement, made my back hurt,” Carol said. As she struggled with her pain, Carol’s school was helpful and tried to accommodate her situation. Rather than having Carol walk the long hallways to get to her students, they would walk to her. Rather than walking around the room, her students would come to her desk when they had questions or needed guidance. Though the accommodations were helpful, Carol’s pain was not diminishing.
Carol visited a local medical clinic where she described her back pain and the shooting pain in her legs. To her good fortune, she was referred to Dr. Phillip Essay at Innovative Pain & Spine Specialists in Lincoln, Nebraska. After getting a complete understanding of Carol’s problems, Dr. Essay suggested aquatic therapy.
“I knew right from the beginning that he was going to figure something out that was going to make me feel better.”
Aquatic therapy was a temporary fix for Carol’s pain. She then tried physical therapy and injections, which did help but didn’t eliminate the back pain. “The injections were great for a little bit, but they would eventually fade, and there I was in pain again,” Carol added. Because she had explored many options for treating her back pain without results, Dr. Essay and his team at Innovative Pain & Spine Specialists determined that Carol would be the right candidate for a spinal cord stimulator.
What Indicates Who Might Be A Candidate For A Spinal Cord Stimulator?
- Chronic low back pain with or without leg pain
- Recipient of multiple surgeries, but the pain remains or worsens
- Injuries to the spinal cord
- Arachnoiditis
- Failed medications, treatments, or therapies
A spinal cord stimulator is a device implanted and connected to the spine with tiny wires, or leads, that send small amounts of electricity to the spinal cord. Patients complete imaging and psychological screening before trialing the spinal cord stimulator. After a week-long trial period, Drs. Phillip Essay, Kelly Zach, and Thomas Brooks at Innovative Pain & Spine Specialists then surgically insert small electric leads between the spinal cord and vertebrae. These leads operate with a battery pack that is implanted under the skin in the patient’s back.
At Innovative Pain & Spine Specialists, 83% of spinal cord stimulator patients see a 50% decrease in their pain. This improvement in a patient’s quality of life can be hugely impactful. As a non-opioid procedure, the spinal cord stimulator not only helps eliminate the pain but can also provide enough relief for patients to ween or ultimately end their pain medications.
“I had the spinal cord stimulator implanted, and after my recovery, I was pain-free and able to go back to teaching,” said Carol. Not only was she able to return to doing things that her pain had limited her in the past, but Carol’s abilities and happiness showed through for her students and family. She could tend to her students like she wanted, easily walk the classroom halls, and play with her grandkids.
“I have no pain, and I’m ecstatic over it.”
Have you suffered from chronic back pain and still have back pain despite trying many therapies or medications? Call Innovative Pain & Spine Specialists, in Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska, at 402-413-5010 and schedule an appointment today.