How Does a Spinal Cord Stimulation Trial Work?

Millions of Americans live with chronic back pain, which can affect your entire life, from your ability to engage in your favorite activities to getting a restful night's sleep—even having the capacity to be present with your loved ones. 

If you’re ready to find relief in the new year, Daniel Kline, MD, and the team at Integrated Spine and Pain Services in Falls Church and Alexandria, Virginia, can offer effective treatment with spinal cord stimulation (SCS). This drug-free therapy offers a way to minimize chronic pain without the side effects of pain medication. 

Before you undergo the procedure for your permanent spinal cord stimulator, you have a trial run with a temporary device to check the treatment’s effectiveness for you. Keep reading to learn more about SCS and what to expect during and after your trial: 

Understanding spinal cord stimulation

Implantable spinal cord stimulators send mild electrical currents into the nerves along your spine. The electrical pulses interrupt your nervous system's pain signals to your brain, easing your pain. 

This therapy is best for people who have experienced chronic pain for 12 weeks or longer and haven’t found lasting relief with other therapies. It can treat pain associated with many conditions, including:

• Chronic back pain
• Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)
• Phantom limb pain
• Post laminectomy syndrome
• Failed back syndrome
• Arachnoiditis
• Peripheral neuropathy

Your Integrated Spine and Pain Services provider evaluates your medical history—including previous therapies or surgeries and current symptoms, and orders additional testing or imaging as needed to determine if SCS is the right option. 

How the SCS trial period works 

Spinal cord stimulators can offer amazing relief, but the treatment doesn’t work for everyone. To make sure your pain will be better managed with high-frequency spinal cord stimulator, your treatment begins with a trial period. 

Daniel Kline, MD, and the team review the trial in detail with you, but to give you a sense of how this important step works, here’s a look at what you can expect from your SCS trial. 

To keep you comfortable during this outpatient procedure, you first receive IV sedation and a local anesthetic. Your provider then places two small catheter leads near your spinal cord using a tiny needle. To ensure correct placement, this is guided using X-ray imaging.    

The leads are then connected to an external battery and transmitter. This part of the temporary device sends electrical pulses to the leads near your spinal cord. Once everything is placed, you wake up from the sedation. 

Your team member then gives you a hand-held controller you can also wear on your belt. With the controller, you can adjust the stimulation you receive. You’re then free to leave.

Most patients use the temporary spinal cord stimulator as needed for about a week. This helps you and your Integrated Spine and Pain Services provider determine whether or not it gives you sufficient pain relief.

Your provider might ask you to track the stimulation settings you use. This helps DOCTOR NAME understand how well your pain was managed in different settings.  

Next steps after the SCS trial

Depending on the results of your SCS trial, your provider may or may not recommend a permanent spinal cord stimulator. While everyone is different, this permanent high-frequency device works best for patients who experience at least 50% pain relief during the trial. 

Many patients wonder what happens if they don’t experience relief during the SCS trial. If this happens, your Integrated Spine and Pain Services provider recommends other treatment options based on your underlying condition, specific symptoms, and previous therapies. 

Depending on your case, alternative or complementary back pain treatment options may include:

• Kyphoplasty
• Medial branch blocks
• Selective nerve root blocks
• Intra-articular sacroiliac joint injections
• Hip joint injections
• Radiofrequency nerve ablation
• Transforaminal epidural injections

Have more questions about your spinal cord stimulation trial? Contact the Integrated Spine and Pain Service team in Northern Virginia by scheduling an online or phone appointment.