Who Qualifies for a Spinal Cord Stimulator?

Living with chronic pain can feel like your world is slowly shrinking. Maybe you’ve tried medications, injections, physical therapy—even spine surgery—and you’re still hurting most days. You might be able to function, but only by pushing through pain, planning your day around it, or avoiding the activities you once loved.

If this sounds familiar, you may be wondering whether you qualify for a spinal cord stimulator (SCS).

A spinal cord stimulator is a small device that sends mild electrical signals to the spinal cord to help interrupt or modify pain signals before they reach your brain. For many people, this can mean less pain, better sleep, and an improved ability to move and participate in daily life.

It’s important to know that SCS is not a first-line treatment. It’s an advanced, minimally invasive option reserved for carefully selected patients who have already tried more conservative treatments without adequate relief.

At Medici Orthopaedics & Spine, we specialize in interventional pain management and minimally invasive solutions, including spinal cord stimulation, for patients throughout Metro Atlanta and North Georgia. Every patient is evaluated individually—there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Whether you qualify for a spinal cord stimulator depends on your pain history, prior treatments, goals, and overall health, not just a scan or a number on a pain scale.

What Is a Spinal Cord Stimulator and How Does It Work?

A spinal cord stimulator sounds high-tech, but the basic idea is straightforward.

• A small device, similar in size to a pacemaker, is implanted under the skin—usually in the lower back or buttock area.
• Thin wires (called leads) are placed in the space near your spinal cord (the epidural space).
• The device sends gentle electrical pulses through these leads.

These pulses help modify how pain signals are transmitted to your brain. Instead of constant, intense pain signals, the brain may receive changed or reduced signals—often experienced as less pain or a more manageable sensation.

It’s important to understand:

• SCS is designed to manage chronic pain, not “cure” the underlying condition.
• It’s a tool in a larger pain management plan, often used alongside physical therapy, exercise, and other treatments.

Types of Pain Spinal Cord Stimulation May Help

Spinal cord stimulation is typically used for nerve-related pain that hasn’t responded well to conservative care. Examples include:

• Neuropathic or nerve-related pain
  Burning, shooting, electric, or tingling pain—often in the back, legs, arms, or feet.
• Pain that continues after back or neck surgery
  Sometimes called “failed back surgery syndrome” or “post-laminectomy syndrome,” where pain persists even after technically successful surgery.
• Pain radiating down arms or legs
  Such as sciatica or radicular pain from irritated or damaged nerves.
• Complex regional pain syndromes and certain other chronic pain disorders
  Including severe, disproportionate pain in a limb that may be accompanied by changes in skin color or temperature, swelling, or extreme sensitivity to touch.

General Criteria: Who Is Considered for a Spinal Cord Stimulator?

Chronic Pain Duration and Severity

Spinal cord stimulation is generally considered for patients whose pain is:

• Chronic – lasting six months or longer, and often several years.
• Functionally limiting – interfering with work, sleep, mobility, mood, relationships, and daily tasks.
• Moderate to severe most days, even with treatment.

If your pain is short-lived, rapidly changing, or related to a condition that is still being actively worked up or treated, you may not be at the stage where SCS is appropriate.

Failure or Limited Response to Conservative Treatments

Because SCS is an advanced therapy, it’s usually considered after more conservative options have been tried, such as:

• Physical therapy and exercise programs – aimed at improving strength, flexibility, and mechanics.
• Medications, including:
  
  • Anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs)
  • Neuropathic agents (like gabapentin or duloxetine)
  • Sometimes opioids, used cautiously and appropriately
• Injections, such as:
  
  • Epidural steroid injections
  • Nerve blocks
  • Facet joint injections
• Other non-surgical therapies – chiropractic care, massage, bracing, acupuncture, and lifestyle modifications.

You do not have to “fail everything under the sun,” but there should be a documented history of reasonable attempts at standard treatments with either:

• Limited relief
• Relief that doesn’t last
• Or side effects that make continued use difficult

At Medici Orthopaedics & Spine, we review your full treatment history to see whether SCS is a logical next step—not a premature one.

Stable Underlying Condition

Spinal cord stimulation is best suited for patients whose pain situation is relatively stable, meaning:

• The pain source is not rapidly progressive or emergent (for example, not a new severe neurological deficit that needs urgent surgery).
• Any structural or compressive issues (like severe spinal cord compression) that should be addressed with surgery have already been treated or ruled out.

SCS is most often considered when:

• Surgery is not recommended – either because it’s unlikely to help or the risk outweighs the benefit.
• Surgery has already been tried without adequate relief – and continued or repeat surgery isn’t expected to solve the problem.
• The patient is not a good surgical candidate – due to age, medical conditions, or personal preference, but still needs meaningful pain relief.

The Spinal Cord Stimulator Trial: A Key Step in Qualification

Why a Trial Is Required

One of the most reassuring aspects of spinal cord stimulation is that you don’t have to commit to a permanent implant right away.

Almost all patients go through a temporary trial period first. The trial allows both you and your physician to:

• Test whether stimulation meaningfully reduces your pain
• See how SCS affects daily activities like sleeping, walking, and sitting
• Experience what the stimulation feels like and decide if it’s comfortable and acceptable

How the Trial Procedure Works

The SCS trial is typically a minimally invasive, outpatient procedure:

• Leads (thin wires) are placed through a needle into the epidural space near your spinal cord, guided by X-ray imaging.
• These leads are connected to an external stimulator that you wear on your belt or clothing—no internal battery is implanted during the trial.
• The trial usually lasts several days up to about a week, depending on your doctor’s protocol.

During the trial, you’ll be encouraged to:

• Perform normal daily activities within safe limits
  We want to see how SCS works in the real world—not just when you’re lying down.
• Track your pain levels and functional changes
  Many patients keep a simple diary noting how their pain changes, what they can do more easily, how they’re sleeping, and any side effects.

Determining Trial Success

After the trial period, you and your physician sit down to review how things went.

Common benchmarks for a “successful” trial include:

• Around 50% or greater reduction in pain (this can vary by case).
• Noticeable improvement in your ability to sit, stand, walk, or sleep.
• A reduction in certain pain medications, when appropriate and guided by your prescribing provider.

Just as important is your personal feedback:

• Does the stimulation feel comfortable and acceptable?
• Does it help the areas that hurt most?
• Do you feel that life tasks are more manageable with the stimulator on?

Only if both you and your physician agree that the trial produced meaningful benefit—and that the sensation is tolerable—will permanent implantation be considered.

Wondering If You Qualify for a Spinal Cord Stimulator? Let’s Talk.

Living with chronic pain—day after day, despite trying medications, injections, or even surgery—can feel isolating and exhausting. But there are options beyond “just managing.” A spinal cord stimulator (SCS) can be truly life-changing for the right patient—particularly those with chronic, nerve-related pain who haven’t found enough relief from traditional treatments.

At Medici Orthopaedics & Spine, we use spinal cord stimulation as part of a comprehensive, minimally invasive, and least drug-dependent pain management strategy. Our goal is always the same: to restore your quality of life, function, and independence in the safest and most effective way possible.

A spinal cord stimulator evaluation is a careful, step-by-step process, guided by our experienced interventional spine and pain management team. Whether your pain stems from failed back surgery, nerve damage, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), or another chronic condition, our specialists can help determine whether SCS might finally bring you meaningful relief.

Contact Medici Orthopaedics & Spine

Main Phone: +1-844-328-4624

Kennesaw Clinic:
2911 George Busbee Parkway, Suite 50
Kennesaw, GA 30144
📞 (770) 545-6404

Snellville Clinic:
2220 Wisteria Drive, Unit 101
Snellville, GA 30078
📞 (470) 645-9297

Buckhead PM&R:
3200 Downwood Circle, NW, Suite 520
Atlanta, GA 30327
📞 (770) 872-7549

Marietta Ambulatory Surgery Center:
792 Church Street, Unit 101
Marietta, GA 30060
📞 (470) 795-8398

🌐 Website: mediciortho.com