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Step 1
Consider whether you would be a good candidate for spinal cord stimulation. A good candidate is someone unlikely to be helped by surgery, and for whom conservative treatments have failed. Furthermore, a good candidate for this procedure is someone who is free of drug addictions and has received a clean bill of health in a psychological evaluation.
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Step 2
Make sure spinal cord stimulation is right for you by undergoing a trial period before you commit. A temporary stimulator may be implanted, allowing you to evaluate how effective this approach is in the management of your pain. This trial period may last for as little as 24 hours or as long as several weeks.
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Step 3
Choose which system of spinal cord stimulation you would like to use. One popular choice is fully implanted, using a battery that will eventually have to be changed. In the other, a transmitter is carried outside the body and used to communicate information to an implanted receiver.
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Step 4
Get implanted with a permanent stimulator if the trial was a success. Both a wire lead and a receiver will be implanted under your skin, in two separate locations. In most cases, both the lead and the receiver are invisible to the human eye once they have been implanted.
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Step 5
Expect the incision site to be somewhat painful and swollen in the days following your surgery. Know that in most cases, this pain dissipates in a matter of days.
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Step 6
Be aware of your odds of success with this approach to pain management. In most cases, patients report that the use of spinal cord stimulation causes pain to diminish by 50 to 70 percent.
