Spinal Cord Stimulation for Pain Treatment After Spinal Cord Injury

This review explores the potential of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for treating chronic pain following spinal cord injury (SCI). Alleviating pain is crucial for improving the quality of life for SCI patients, alongside restoring other functions. SCS, which involves using electrical pulses to modulate nerve activity, has been used for managing various chronic pain conditions. However, its effectiveness and mechanisms in SCI pain are not fully understood due to limited research and methodological issues in past studies. The review outlines different SCS approaches for SCI pain, including conventional, burst, and high-frequency stimulation. It also discusses the challenges of treating SCI pain and future research directions for improving SCS therapy.

• 1
  Conventional SCS may be more effective for reducing pain in patients with incomplete SCI, particularly those with lesions at low thoracic to upper lumbar levels.
• 2
  Newer SCS paradigms, such as burst SCS, might be effective for below-level pain, even in cases of complete paraplegia.
• 3
  High-frequency, paresthesia-free SCS can induce pain relief in patients who do not respond well to conventional SCS.