Sciatic pain
Peripheral nerve stimulation, or PNS, is an FDA-approved quick-acting pain relief treatment for treating sciatic pain, among other sources of pain. In particular, PNS is an excellent therapy for resistant pain or those patient in which painkillers don’t work. To explain, PNS is a minimally invasive same-day procedure that reduces pain immediately. Notably, peripheral nerve stimulation blocks the pain signals from a specific body area or sensory nerve, relieving chronic pain.
How soon does the patient experience pain relief with peripheral nerve stimulation therapy?
PNS starts working immediately, and with proper follow-ups, the pain reduction effects can last more than a year. Our doctors can apply PNS to practically any body part, including the hands, shoulders, neck, groin, spine, and head. Peripheral nerve stimulation may eliminate the need for pain medications and painkillers.
How does peripheral nerve stimulation work?
Peripheral nerve stimulation relieves chronic knee pain by preventing the brain from receiving knee pain signals. Imagine the pain is a message a body part sends to the brain. If the brain doesn't receive the message, the brain won't produce the pain sensation. In effect, PNS blocks most pain signals from a particular sensory nerve blocking the brain from perceiving pain. In detail, PNS produces a small electrical current every time the knee sends a pain signal. This small electrical current produced by PNS intercepts the pain signal (message), blocking it from reaching the brain. In other words, PNS acts as a pain signal (feeling) bouncer, blocking or preventing selected pain signals from reaching the brain. As a result, the patient has pain chronic pain alleviation and requires none or less pain medication.
What happens during the peripheral nerve stimulation same-day procedure?
The peripheral nerve stimulation procedure consists of two steps to achieve the greatest pain alleviation from this pain therapy. Each step is a minimally invasive office procedure performed in less than an hour.
FIRST STEP, Trial:
The first step involves placing a temporal PNS on the affected area to establish that at least 50% of chronic pain has been reduced. In the second step, your doctor will implant a permanent PNS after the patient confirms a permanent pain reduction of at least 50% over one or two weeks. The first step is a temporal peripheral nerve stimulation placement. 1. A pain specialist identifies the sensory nerves' location responsible for transmitting pain sensation from the affected area. 2. The pain doctor localized the affected sensory nerves using ultrasound or other imaging equipment. 3. After numbing the area, the pain specialist makes small incisions in the back. 4. After confirming the sensory nerve identification, your doctor inserts a tiny electrode similar to a small needle in the selected nerve. The tiny electrode is connected to a thin wire. This procedure is repeated in other selected nerves to block all sensory nerves. 5. A pain specialist connects the electrode wires to an external peripheral nerve stimulation device and sets the proper firing rate to block the pain signals. 6. After a couple of hours and the patient's confirmation of at least 50% of pain relief, the patient can go home.
SECOND STEP
permanent PNS implantation 1. After corroborating pain treatment success by patient confirmation of at least 50% of pain relief, the patient is ready for permanent PNS implantation. 2. After numbing the area, your pain specialist makes a small incision to implant a small PNS device. 3. The thin electrode wires are inserted into the battery of the permanent PNS. 4. Your pain doctor places the permanent PNS below the skin to relieve chronic sciatic pain. 5. After confirming treatment success, the patient goes home.
Advantages of PNS
This is a unique treatment which allows you to TRY the treatment for 1 week, before deciding to commit to a long term solution. If it doesn’t work, then we just remove the leads. If your pain was reduced, we can make the leads a long term solution by embedding them just under the skin surface.
Our Simple Process
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