This common surgery for chronic pain can have tragic results

Back killing you? This ‘cure’ can make things a whole lot worse

We’ve all had back pain at some time or another. But if yours is of the ongoing, unrelenting kind that affects just about everything you do, well, you would probably try just about anything for a minute of relief.

Especially if it’s something called “safe” and “effective,” that’s “offering hope” for those in chronic pain…and it doesn’t involve major back surgery or taking risky meds.

But what your doctor may not tell you is that this “safe” treatment they’re pushing more and more comes with a big risk. And that risk can become even bigger — depending on how much your doctor knows about doing this procedure.

Because in a lot of cases, that’s not too much.

“I walked in to that hospital, and I expected to walk out,” said back-pain patient Rick Greenwood.

He had a spinal-cord stimulator implanted to relieve his chronic pain.

But his attempt to take away some of that pain came at a big price. The procedure left him paralyzed from the waist down.

And Greenwood, who is only 66, isn’t the only one who has gone from back pain to a wheelchair because of this procedure.

Duke University recently looked through insurance records for over 12,000 patients who have had spinal-cord stimulators implanted. And that research found that at least one in every 100 people who had the procedure done had some type of spinal damage.

And that can range from muscle weakness to complete paralysis.

“Getting paralyzed didn’t even cross my mind at all,” he said.

Spinal stimulators are small devices that are implanted in the lower back. They send a low electrical current through wires to electrodes placed near the spinal cord. It works by “distracting” the brain from getting a pain signal.

That is, when it works.

When it doesn’t, well, that can take you from bad to much, much worse.

And a big reason that things can go south quickly, say experts, is that doctors who are doing these spinal implants have had “insufficient training” and don’t have enough “awareness about the risks of operating near the spinal cord.”

One doctor who performs the procedure said that, “for someone who hasn’t done a lot of them, it looks like a fairly straightforward and simple procedure.” And for that reason it “attracts” lots of doctors who don’t know about the risks.

You would think before you could tunnel wires up someone’s spine, you would have to be a specialist.

But no.

In fact, you don’t even have to be a surgeon to do this!

Dr. Robert Levy, director of the Marcus Neuroscience Institute in Boca Raton, Fla., calls the lack of any real training to be a big reason that there are so many complications. He said that doctors who are learning this often don’t even get any “hands-on instruction.”

Sometimes the only lessons a doctor will receive is a “weekend training” course given by the device makers!

And even though it’s the worst, paralysis isn’t the only side effect of this surgery.

Other problems can include scar tissue forming around the electrode, leakage of spinal fluid, bladder problems and headaches from the electrical stimulation, as well as new pains in places where you didn’t even have any before.

But before you give up hope about dealing with the pain in your back, there is something you can try that’s a proven pain-fighter. And it’s one that doesn’t come with side effects or a risk of becoming wheelchair bound.

And even though it seems like some new-age cure, it’s really very old and well-documented as a treatment for pain. I’m talking about acupuncture.

You may think it’s crazy to have needles stuck in your feet to help a pain in your back. But it’s a lot less crazy than letting a doctor stick wires up your spine after a weekend of training.

Sources:
“When spine implants cause paralysis, who is to blame?” Joseph Walker, April 15, 2014 The Wall Street Journal, online.wsj.com