About the Trial

Unlike other chronic pain treatments or surgeries, you can experience neurostimulation (also known as spinal cord stimulation) and find out if it relieves your pain before committing to the long-term therapy. A trial serves as a temporary evaluation period.

If you experience significant pain relief during the trial, and you and your doctor agree that the trial was a success, you can proceed with long-term therapy.

What to Expect

Prior to the trial, you may have a psychological evaluation to help determine if you are a good candidate for spinal cord stimulation.

The trial period is typically between five and seven days.

Your Temporary Neurostimulation System

The trial uses a temporary neurostimulation system that consists of:

• External neurostimulator – An external device that is worn around the waist and delivers the electrical impulses that interrupt the pain signals. It works similar to the implanted neurostimulator. You can adjust how the therapy feels with a programmer
• Temporary leads – Thin insulated medical wires that are placed in the epidural space of your spine to deliver electrical impulses from the neurostimulator to the nerves along the spinal cord
• Screening cable – The cable that connects the leads to the external neurostimulator
• MyStim programmer – The handheld, wireless device that allows you to adjust stimulation levels.

Programming Your Neurostimulator

Your MyStim^® programmer communicates with your neurostimulator by sending signals to and receiving signals from the neurostimulator. “Synchronizing” establishes communication between the neurostimulator and your MyStim programmer. These two components must be properly communicating or in “sync” before you can make any stimulation changes.

Below is an overview of the kind of adjustments you can make to the stimulation levels, using your MyStim programmer. Your doctor will choose the adjustments you will have access to.

Amplitude changes how strong the stimulation feels or the spread of the stimulation area.

Pulse Width changes how strong the stimulation feels or the spread of the stimulation area.

Rate changes how smooth the stimulation feels. A lower rate may feel like "tapping."

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