Spinal Cord Problems - How Pain Management Therapies Can Help?

If oral medications are not proving helpful in managing pain for injuries related to the spinal cord, then one must try for pain management therapies as nowadays, they are highly recommended by the doctors. There are three different types of therapies that can reduce pain without the intervention of a surgery

• Spinal cord stimulation
• Pain pumps
• Peripheral nerve stimulation

These therapies are provided on a trial basis and if a person responds to any of the trials, then long-term treatment plan is decided by a physiotherapist along with a neurologist. While implantable pain management might not work for everyone, if it does, a person might experience a significant reduction in pain.

Peripheral nerve stimulation and spinal cord stimulation to counter the pain:
Both Peripheral nerve stimulation and spinal cord stimulation are types of electrical stimulation that can be deployed to treat chronic pain. This is a method wherein, insulated wires that have electrical contacts are inserted near the spinal cord. In case of the peripheral nerve stimulation therapy, the wires are placed beneath the skin. An implanted generator is attached to a wire, in order to send electrical pulses around the affected area of the spinal cord.

During the process of implantation, a patient is awakened, so as to understand whether the pulse is being directed to the right spot or not and also if there is any relief from pain or not. In some cases, patients may need both peripheral nerve field therapy and spinal cord stimulation at the same time. Stimulation does not necessarily eliminate the pain altogether, it, however, can reduce the pain to half, thereby leading to drastic improvement in performing daily activities.

Intrathecal Pain Pump
This is a procedure through which medication is directly delivered to the spinal cord by implanting an intrathecal pain pump. The medication is directly sent to the pain receptors, thereby ensuring that the brain doesn’t get the pain reception from the neuron. This helps in easing the perception of pain.

This is a procedure where a person is given a general anesthesia only to insert a thin catheter into the fluid-filled region of the spinal cord known as the intrathecal space. A doctor implants a small pump in the abdomen and the same is attached to a catheter. This is followed by injecting the medicine into the reservoir of the pump. In these cases, strong painkillers such as morphine are injected into the pumps, these are filled with painkillers once in a month. This mode of treatment is helpful owing to the act that the body has round-the-clock medication at its disposal. There is provision to administer multiple medicines in case of serious pain. Doctors try to target the exact location of the delivery so that small dosage of medicine can relieve the pain without side-effects.