
Your browser is out of date
With an updated browser, you will have a better Medtronic website experience. Update my browser now.
Chronic Pain
Medtronic is continually advancing spinal cord stimulation to improve quality of life for people with chronic pain. One of these innovations is known as AdaptiveStim.® This new technology automatically adapts to changes in pain as you switch positions.
Throughout each day, you change position repeatedly – from sitting to lying down, from lying down to standing up. As you change positions, your spinal cord may move closer to or further from the electrodes that send out the mild electrical pulses. A stimulation level that blocks your pain when you're standing may be uncomfortable when you're lying down. As a result, your stimulation level may need to be adjusted for continued comfort.
Before AdaptiveStim technology, this adjustment would have to be made manually with a programmer. AdaptiveStim, available only with RestoreSensor,® automatically and conveniently adjusts stimulation levels for you.
AdaptiveStim remembers the stimulation level that you have chosen in each position and automatically adjusts the setting the next time you move into that position. AdaptiveStim, available only from Medtronic:
AdaptiveStim uses an accelerometer similar to what is used in smart phones and gaming devices to detect a change in position. Just as a smart phone knows if it's being used vertically or horizontally and adjusts the screen image, AdaptiveStim knows if you are upright, or lying down and automatically adjusts to your programmed settings.
An FDA-approved clinical study on RestoreSensor with AdaptiveStim found:
Medtronic advanced pain therapy using neurostimulation for chronic pain. Clinical summary. 2011; M221494A006.
Information on this site should not be used as a substitute for talking with your doctor. Always talk with your doctor about diagnosis and treatment information.