During the Test Drive procedure, your Pain Specialist will place flexible Leads under your skin in the epidural space (near the spinal cord). The end of each Lead has contacts that deliver pain-masking signals to the spinal cord. These Leads will be connected to your External Stimulator.

At this time, you will be awake to give feedback about the therapy so that your Pain Specialist can ensure proper placement of the stimulation Leads. This is an important time for you to communicate whether or not you are feeling paresthesia.

During surgery, your objective is to give feedback about paresthesia: where and how strong you feel it.

To get the most benefit from spinal cord stimulation therapy, it is important that you are able to feel paresthesia comfortably in the areas where your pain is, like a treasure hunt where X marks the spot. A specialist will adjust the system and ask you to describe where you are feeling the paresthesia sensation.

You will feel the focal point and coverage of stimulation move around: The specialist will make adjustments according to your feedback. As the paresthesia moves around, it will also feel like it is getting stronger and weaker. You always want to keep it at a comfortable level that you can feel.

Once the stimulation is in the general areas of your pain, your Pain Specialist will determine that the Leads are in the right place and the procedure is complete. Bandages or dressing will be applied to keep your Leads clean and protected.

“That first experience was nothing like I expected. Once they turned the stimulator on, I felt the difference and the decrease in pain immediately, like someone flipped a switch. It was unbelievable—the pain decreased, and I knew right at that point this was going to be something that would help me in the long run.” —Noah Hull, RSD