How Does Spinal Cord Stimulation Stop Pain?

At Florida Pain Medicine, we understand that chronic pain deeply affects your daily life and how frustrating it is when standard treatments don’t bring relief. That’s why we specialize in advanced options like spinal cord stimulation that can deliver the relief you deserve.

 You only need to schedule a consultation to learn if spinal cord stimulation might be the solution for your chronic pain. Meanwhile, here’s how this innovative treatment works.

 How spinal cord stimulation works

 Spinal cord stimulation delivers a type of treatment called neuromodulation, which changes the way nerves carry information to the brain.

 Though there are several neuromodulation techniques, spinal cord stimulation achieves results using a controlled electrical impulse.

 The electrical impulse blocks or masks nerve signals, which changes the way your brain perceives pain. Here’s how it works:  

Sensory nerves pick up pain sensations in your body. The pain sensations trigger electrical impulses in the nerves. Those electrical signals take the pain message through your spinal cord to your brain.

 After your brain receives the signals, it interprets the pain’s intensity and location, and the appropriate negative emotional response. Your pain is the product of your brain sending messages through other nerves.

The bottom line: As spinal cord stimulation prevents your brain from receiving the pain message, you feel significantly less pain (even though the underlying cause remains).

 Spinal cord stimulation may reduce inflammation

 Although spinal cord stimulation primarily works by masking pain signals, recent studies suggest it may have other benefits that contribute to its effectiveness.

For example, a study published in 2025 reported that patients who received high-intensity spinal cord stimulation for spinal pain syndrome type 2 (PSPS-T2, previously called failed back surgery syndrome), achieved more than a 50% reduction in pain.

 The researchers discovered that, in addition to blocking pain signals, spinal cord stimulation also improved pain by reducing inflammation.

Conditions treated with spinal cord stimulation

No matter what causes your chronic pain, pain messages from every part of the body travel through the spinal cord to reach the brain.

Because spinal cord stimulation targets the spinal nerves, it can precisely adjust pain signals coming from anywhere in your body. 

This treatment may relieve pain arising from many causes, including:

• Arthritis
• Diabetic nerve pain
• Chronic neck and back pain
• Peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage)
• Cervical and lumbar radiculopathy (pinched spinal nerves)
• Herniated discs
• Spinal stenosis
• Joint pain
• Chest pain (angina)
• Sciatica
• Phantom limb pain
• Fibromyalgia
• Chronic abdominal pain
• Failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS)
• Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)

How can spinal cord stimulation precisely target different conditions? We place lead wires in the epidural space (an area between the spinal cord and vertebrae), positioning the leads so they send electrical impulses into the nerves carrying the pain signals.

Who qualifies for spinal cord stimulation?

You may be an ideal candidate for spinal cord stimulation if: 

1. You live with chronic pain (pain lasting at least three months)
2. Your pain hasn’t improved with conservative treatment (medications, physical therapy, and others)
3. You can’t or prefer not to have surgery
4. You have successfully completed a spinal cord stimulator trial

 To determine if you qualify, we review your medical history and complete a physical exam. If you’ve received treatment for your pain, we also review diagnostic imaging and other records you may have.

Alternatively, if you haven’t had previous treatments, we determine the cause of your pain and begin your treatment with standard therapies. 

Once you’ve met the first three aforementioned criteria, the next step is a spinal cord stimulator trial. During your trial, we insert the wires but refrain from implanting the pulse generator that sends electrical impulses through the leads. Instead, you’ll wear it around your waist.

After using the spinal cord stimulator for a week, you’ll better understand how well it relieves your pain. You can keep the device (and have the pulse generator implanted) for ongoing pain relief, or we can recommend another advanced treatment that may alleviate your pain.

Find relief for chronic pain

Our caring team specializes in spinal cord stimulation and numerous treatments and interventional procedures that effectively relieve chronic pain.Call or request a chronic pain consultation online today. We have six convenient offices in the Tampa region and two in the Daytona Beach area.