This woman had years of chronic right knee pain after she had arthroscopic knee surgery. Despite her efforts, her pain had begun to interfere with her ability to do activities like walking, exercising, and getting out of a chair. Due to the persistent pain issues she had, she elected to proceed with a trial of right lumbar 3 and lumbar 4 dorsal root ganglion stimulation.
More about a trial of stimulation:
For the trial procedure, I place the trial leads using xray guidance. Then, the patient spends multiple days doing their normal activities and seeing how their body responds to the treatment. This trial period allows the patient to test out the stimulation for their specific pain. At the end of the trial, the patient decides if they want the device implanted or not. After the trial is over, I remove the leads completely. The spine has not changed so you can decide to proceed with implant of the device or not. You have a choice.
Dorsal root ganglion stimulation has been shown effective for many types of chronic nerve pains including complex regional pain syndrome. Clinically, Dr. Moman has seen this therapy be effective for patients who have persistent pain after knee operations and inguinal hernia operations, to mention just a few scenarios.