I had back surgery three years ago and still have daily pain. I’ve tried getting off drugs but every time I stop taking my pills, I can’t function. I’ve heard about electrical stimulation. Would something like this help me?

Electrical nerve stimulation (ENS) has been used off and on by many chronic pain patients. It seems to help some, but not everyone. If you haven’t used this form of treatment, it’s certainly worth a try.

Reports about the benefits of ENS say that it helps patients reduce the amount of pain medication they are taking. You may be able to completely stop taking pain medications. Sometimes it takes awhile to slowly reduce your use of drugs. ENS may not relieve all the pain, but it can reduce pain enough to increase and/or improve your daily function.

With reduced pain intensity, your comfort level may increase. The result is you can do more each day. Many patients are able to increase physical activity and even start to exercise again, which can also decrease pain levels.