![]() ![]() You will have been reviewed by one of the pain doctors or neurosurgeons for initial assessment regarding suitability of SCS and then referred for this detailed assessment. About the multidisciplinary assessment prior to trial The Walton Centre has implanted stimulators for over 35 years. It offers no cure but can offer people with neuropathic pain a degree of relief that enables them to become more active, enjoy better sleep and possibly reduce their pain medications. We believe SCS recruits natural pain relieving mechanisms at a spinal cord level and via longer pathways which stimulate pain relieving centres in the brain. In 1971 the first SCS was implanted delivering low-voltage electrical currents to the back of the spinal cord where the ‘spinal pain gates’ lie, providing pain relief. Naturally occurring electricity has been used to treat pain for thousands of years. Introduction to spinal cord stimulation (SCS) About SCS Neuropathic pain is a type of unhelpful chronic pain originating in the nervous system and often resistant to conventional treatment (including medications and good pain management skills) but can be eased by spinal cord stimulation (SCS). The natural analgesic centres in the brain, which thrives on upbeat messages, wane. Consequent tiredness, boredom, depression and worry make the pain even harder to cope with. Misdirected problem-solving (poor pain management skills) can develop, leading to further distress and physical disability. Unless rationale and positive thoughts and behaviours (good pain management skills) are adopted, the healed tissue remains sensitised, which fuels this on-going unhelpful pain mechanism. When faced with on-going signals in pain pathways, the brain assumes they are a threat and a sign of on-going injury and so a person adopts protective behaviours. About chronic painĬhronic pain is unhelpful as it is both unpleasant and exists even when harm or damage is excluded by various tests including medical assessment. However, for reasons not yet fully understood, pain can continue beyond the expected healing time, despite efforts to relieve it. Slow dull pain is felt afterwards and serves to promote protective behaviours to enable healing to complete. About acute painįast sharp pain is felt during stimulus or injury. It then forwards impulses to other areas of the brain with the purpose of taking immediate action and making sense of them. The brain then recognises these impulses and categorises them as painful and does it’s best to judge their origin. Pain impulses travel from the point of origin along pain pathways into the spinal cord and then to the brain. Introduction to pain About pain transmission ![]()
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