Adjustable Pain Relief

For the estimated 116 million American adults who suffer from chronic pain, neurostimulation systems offer an alternative to medications for long-term relief. They work by interrupting pain signals before they reach the brain, but changes in body position necessitate adjustments in the intensity of stimulation as the spinal cord moves closer to or further away from the stimulation site.

Early neurostimulation systems included a handheld programming device that allowed patients to manually adjust these levels, but more recent advancements (such as AdaptivStim™ with RestoreSensor™) incorporate the same motion sensor technology found in cell phones and gaming controllers to automatically adapt to changing posture. A built-in accelerometer can distinguish between sitting, standing and lying down, and the device stores this information to provide feedback for clinicians. In one clinical study, 86.5 percent of patients reported better pain relief and/or more convenience using AdaptivStim, in addition to functional improvement and greater comfort when changing position.