Back-pain device implanted in first UK patient

The Medtronic RestoreSensor neurostimulator treats chronic back pain using Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS), a process where mild electrical pulses are delivered to the spinal cord to mask the body’s pain signals and replace them with a tingling sensation.

The neurostimulator is claimed to be the first in the world to use motion-sensing technology. It can sense a change in the patient’s body position or activity level and automatically adjust how much pain-relieving stimulation to deliver. For example, if the patient is lying on their back then a lower stimulation will be delivered, but if they are lying on their front then a higher dose will be delivered.

Until now, patients have only been able to use devices that deliver pre-set levels of constant stimulation, which meant they had to frequently change their pain-relief settings manually whenever they changed position or activity. This often led to Spinal Cord Stimulation users experiencing broken sleep due to inadequate pain-relieving stimulation.