Stimulator surgery is the last resort

MUMBAI: Dr Milind Sankhe is one of the most sought after doctors in the city when it comes to treating chronic pain. For, it was Dr Sankhe who performed the city’s first Spinal Cord Stimulator surgery, a procedure  resorted to if all other surgical procedures  fail to produce the desired result.

“Pain is a very subjective thing,” said Dr Sankhe, consultant neurosurgeon, Hinduja Hospital, “as different people have different thresholds for pain.”

Dr Sankhe believes that the varying threshold determines whether a person requires  SCS surgery. “Not everyone requires SCS for getting relief from chronic pain. In fact, it could be ideal for about five to ten per cent of people suffering from chronic pain for several years,” he said.

While SCS is the last resort when it comes to chronic pain, several other  modes of treatment are also available, say pain management specialists. Sometimes, something as simple as sleeping in the right position, or exercising for 20 minutes daily, helps, whereas, at other times, the patient could be advised medication, acupressure, acupuncture, laser, injection, nerve block, physiotherapy or even a surgical procedure.

“What everyone should remember is that  pain needs to be taken seriously. When your body is in pain, it is, in fact, screaming for help,” said Dr Tilottama Mangeshikar, anaesthetist, Cumballa Hill Hospital. “Once you have ruled out a structural or organic cause for pain, and you know that it cannot be corrected, that is when you should start looking at corrective therapy for getting rid of the pain,” explained Dr Sankhe, adding that people with pain are often desperate and “willing to try anything new.”

“Chronic pain caused by sports injury is also common,” said Dr Pratima Rajan, head of preventive cardiology and sports medicine, Jaslok Hospital. “The idea of physiotherapy is to not only rehabilitate the injured part but also to strengthen the muscles,” she said.