What is Spinal Cord Stimulation?
- January 31
- admin
- Uncategorized
By: Ryan Stuckey, MD Understanding Spinal Cord Stimulation: I want you to think back to the last time you walked through the house and stumped your toe on a piece of furniture or stepped on your dog’s chew toy. What was your immediate reaction? You likely reached down to grab your foot to rub the painful area. This action does not take away the pain entirely, but it does seem to provide some form of relief. The body contains various nerve fibers that transmit different information to and from the brain. The sensation of touch and the sensation of pain, for example, are carried by two separate types of nerves. When stimulated simultaneously, the nerve impulses carrying the sensation of touch overwhelm the pain signals traveling to the brain, which results in the brain receiving less pain signals. A spinal cord stimulator takes advantage of this physiologic interaction by activating the nerve fibers that transmit the sensation of touch and thereby decrease the sens