Peripheral Nerve Stimulation 2102328

What is peripheral nerve stimulation?

Peripheral nerve stimulation is a treatment that Dr. Celis administers to help alleviate chronic pain that’s originating from outside of your spine.

It involves surgically implanting a small medical device, or a wire-like electrode called a peripheral nerve stimulator (PNS), close to one of your peripheral nerves where you’re feeling pain. Your peripheral nerves are the nerves in your body that are located outside of your brain or spinal cord.

Once properly placed, the PNS generates rapid electrical pulses through your peripheral nerve that interfere with its ability to properly communicate pain signals to your brain. This creates a mild tingling sensation, known as paresthesia. By masking your pain signals, the PNS prevents your brain from properly processing them, which effectively reduces the pain that you feel in your target area.

What conditions does peripheral nerve stimulation treat?

Dr. Celis can use peripheral nerve stimulation to treat a wide range of conditions, including:

• Neuropathic pain, or pain caused by damage to your nervous system
• Complex regional pain syndrome
• Migraine headaches

Dr. Celis might recommend PNS when other, more conservative treatments have failed. PNS has helped countless individuals find relief from their chronic pain when medications, physical therapy, and therapeutic injections haven’t alleviated their discomfort.

How is peripheral nerve stimulation administered?

If Dr. Celis thinks that you’d benefit from peripheral nerve stimulation, the first step is to do a trial or test-run with a device. Dr. Celis implants an electrode in your target area and connects it to an external battery that you can strap on to your body.

Since pain is a subjective experience, spending a few days testing the devices enables you to decide if it’s truly an effective treatment for your condition. If you decide that PNS isn’t for you, having made the decision in a trial phase saves you from a potentially unnecessary surgery to plant an electrical generator in your body.

If, on the other hand, you find great relief with peripheral nerve stimulation and decide that it is for you, Dr. Celis performs a surgery to implant a small generator beneath your skin, much like a pacemaker. The generator gives you the ability to control your PNS device yourself, enabling you to turn it on or off entirely and to adjust its parameters to best suit your personal needs.

Find relief from your pain today and schedule a peripheral nerve stimulation consultation with Dr. Celis at California Pain Group. You can book your visit by phone or online.