Importance of Peripheral Nerve Stimulation in pain management

Peripheral Nerve Stimulation was approved by the FDA in the year 1989 and it became one of the most used treatment methods. While the treatment is not meant for everyone, it is still one of the best ways to deal with chronic pain. Most patients who are eligible for this achieve at least a 50%-70% reduction in the chronic pain they suffer from and they also become able to participate in their normal work activities and do chores like everyone else.

Advantages of peripheral nerve stimulation

Apart from a guaranteed pain reduction by at least 50% Peripheral Nerve Stimulation also enables people to stop taking harmful painkillers and also reduce the amount of medication they require. Being able to completely eliminate narcotic medications is its biggest advantage and the ongoing advancements in this treatment at the pain clinic Chicago has allowed the process to be extremely streamlined and allows the patients to gain a substantial level of control over their pain changes in the long run.

In modern treatments there have been significant improvements in the designs of electrodes in the Chicago pain center and this has allowed them to be longer lasting and they also come with rechargeable batteries and implantable systems that have flexible positioning systems to provide efficient pain relief compared to other treatment methods.

Spinal cord stimulation vs Peripheral nerve stimulation

With so many people suffering from chronic back pain chicago doctors were often torn between spinal cord stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation and debated about which is the more effective treatment method. Spinal cord stimulation was often used by pain management doctors before the introduction of PNS as the spinal cord method was tried and tested and most clinics were well equipped with the tools required. Spinal cord stimulation involved the use of soft, thin wires that had their tips covered with electrical leads and they used to be placed through needles into spinal column. There is no incision involved in the process and this was one of the biggest reasons for the mass adoption of the method. A programmable generator with a simple circuit is used in spinal cord stimulation for emitting currents into the spinal column.

While the peripheral nerve field stimulation method is quite similar to spinal cord simulation the nerve field stimulation process is often performed by pain specialists by placing the leads below the skin which are painful for the patients. This has helped better pain management by directly focusing on nerves in the affected areas. In both of these approaches generators are programmed using remote controls and it is as simple as controlling your TV at home. You can use the remote to control the amount of stimulation you need and you can turn the peripheral system on or off at your will. Peripheral nerve field stimulation is quite effective and provides efficient pain relief with hardly any side effects or contingencies that other pain management treatments are associated with.

Harry Lee is senior medical coder who has many years of experience of working in this field.