M.S.  is a 51 year old female with a several year history of low back pain and numbness and tingling into the legs following multiple car accidents. Her MRI showed disc bulges, degenerative disc changes and facet arthropathy.  She underwent various treatments including trigger point injections, SI joint injections, transforaminal steroid injections, radiofrequency rhizotomy, as well as physical therapy.  She would get benefit of different aspects of her pain from each of these and overall had reduction in pain but remained frustrated when she seemed to plateau.  She was anxious to try to decrease her narcotic pain medication and try to get more active but each time she attempted to do so, she would flare.  She underwent a series of 9 pulsed stimulation treatments (PSTIM) over a 3 month period from March through June 2010 resulting in improved pain and a decrease in medication need.   She was in the office last week, and one year out, reports she is still having benefit.  Specifically, she still had improved low back pain, with average pain score a 1-2/10 from average of 5-6/10 prior to PSTIM.  She has no leg symptoms the last year.  She’d been able to decrease medications by about 60% right after PSTIM treatment was completed and has continued to maintain that dosing and, increase her activity level with regular walking exercise and home program from her PT.  She felt pulsed stimulation treatments got her over the plateau, with about a 50% improvement and she’s held on to the benefits from it for over a year now.

Pulse stimulation treatment is a microchip-controlled pulse nerve stimulation device that provides a continuous flow of intermittent, low frequency electrical pulses to specific nerve endings in the ear relieving many types of acute and chronic pain.  It is easily applied, light weight and small, allowing patient to wear it over a 4 day period and continue normal daily activities during treatment.  It assists in resetting the autonomic nervous system which in turn can improve pain, mood, sleep and anxiety, allowing for better quality of life.  A patient’s type of pain & symptoms will determine number of treatments, with up to nine sessions (3 rounds of 3 sessions each) being performed with the goal of achieving a cumulative, residual pain relief benefit.  Centeno Schultz Clinic is one of two providers in Colorado currently offering this treatment.