Chronic pain is a common problem, affecting over 10% of the adult population. Common pain medications, corrective surgery or other types of treatment such as physiotherapy can provide adequate pain relief in many patients. However, this is not always the case. In some cases, for people whose pain treatment is no longer effective, or causes uncomfortable or unpleasant side-effects, neurostimulation or intrathecal drug delivery offer a good alternative. Which of these two types of therapy to use is generally determined by the type of pain, the pain pattern and a screening period. Studies have shown 1-5 that both neurostimulation and intrathecal drug delivery provide:
Increased pain relief and comfort
Improvements in mobility and independence
Improvements in quality of life by enabling
patients to return to work and a resume a normal social life
The choice of your therapy depends on your specific type of pain, how severe it is, and how well other therapies have treated your pain. You and your doctor may consider other options if your current treatment is not controlling your pain or is causing uncomfortable side effects
