Newcastle woman says back pain made her put her life on hold

Naylor said receiving a diagnosis from Dr Sachin Rastogi, a consultant anaesthetist specialising in chronic pain at Newcastle Hospitals, marked a turning point.

“It was a huge relief to finally have somebody who immediately recognised my symptoms and potentially has an answer to my chronic back pain,” she said.

Rastogi said the technology could benefit patients whose back pain was linked to weakness and dysfunction in deep stabilising muscles of the spine.

“This technology can be life-transforming, and it has so far had a huge impact in improving the quality of life for our patients who have undergone this procedure,” he said.

“It’s potentially a cure for this particular type of low back pain where there is muscle weakness.”

He said the treatment was intended for a specific group of patients whose symptoms have not improved despite conventional approaches, including physiotherapy, medication and injections.

“We put two electrodes into each side of the muscles deep in the lower back, just off the spine, and we connect those to an implanted battery, like a pacemaker,” he said.

“Twice a day, the patient switches it on for 30 minutes and it basically reactivates and stimulates the muscle to contract, building strength up again, and leading to improvements in function and pain.”

Rastogi said the muscles targeted by the device were difficult to strengthen through exercise alone.

“You can’t exercise this muscle through physiotherapy, as it’s very deep in the spine,” he said.

“If it gets weak or loses function, the pathway from brain to muscle is lost, so this battery stimulates the muscles instead.”

The implant is the latest example of neuromodulation technology being used by Newcastle Hospitals.

Similar approaches are also used in treatments for conditions including Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy.