A recent study revealed that high frequency spinal cord stimulation can be very effective in relieving the pain of people who have chronic pain in their limbs or back. The study also discovered that high frequency stimulation is twice as effective as the low frequency traditional treatment. The recent discoveries may provide relief for the people who have moving difficulties and daily sores.
The common treatment might be changed soon; however, the method will still remain similar. Spinal cord stimulation is a type of dealing with pain through an implant. The method involves the insertion of a tiny device underneath the skin of the patient through surgery in order to relieve the pain in the limbs or torso. The small implant sends low frequency (between 40 to 60 Hz) spinal cord stimulation in order to relieve and treat the patient’s aches.
Nevertheless, the recent discoveries showed that high frequency spinal cord stimulation is a lot more effective against these pains. The method involves simply adjusting the small device to send pulses of up to 10,000 Hz. This is about 200 times stronger than the traditional treatment.
The scientists conducted the study on 171 patients. All the people in the study were suffering from pain in their limbs and back, for the purpose of better understanding the effects of the new treatment. All of them had a SCS (spinal cord stimulation) device already implanted. A group of 90 individuals received the new high frequency method of treatment while the rest of 81 people were treated traditionally with low frequencies.
A professor of anesthesiology, Dr. Leonardo Kapural said that this was the first time these two kinds of treatments were analyzed for differences at the same time. The results revealed that there were quite some differences, and after a period of just three months.
The patients who received high frequency SCS felt a lot better after the treatment. Namely 85 percent of the patients suffering from back pain and 83 percent of the people suffering from chronic leg pain felt a lot better after being given the treatment. The people said that they saw at least a 50 percent improvement in their aches. On the other hand, just 44 percent of the people suffering from back pain and 56 percent of the participants suffering from leg pain reported the same improvement.
The new study may prove to be a gigantic leap in reducing chronic pains and may benefit the patients twice as much.
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