A stimulator is offered at the end of a process, not the start of one. The evaluation looks at what has already been tried, whether the pain pattern is one these devices tend to help, and whether anything treatable has been missed along the way.
That review is not a formality. People arrive assuming every option is exhausted and the assessment sometimes finds a joint, a nerve or a pattern of loading that nobody has addressed directly. Where that happens, the simpler route is tried first and the device conversation waits.
Interventional appointments in this city happen at InterQuest, 10807 New Allegiance Drive, off the InterQuest Parkway exit. Academy on North Academy Boulevard and Tenderfoot in the south handle the assessments, the follow-up and the Physical Therapy running alongside.
For a trial period this split is genuinely useful. The trial is the part that needs the procedure room; the conversations about how it is going do not, and can happen at whichever clinic is nearest to you.
During the trial the leads exit through the skin and connect to a small unit you carry. You keep the area dry, avoid bending and twisting more than usual, and otherwise go about a normal week.
Keep notes each evening. How far did you walk, how did the night go, what did you do that you had stopped doing. A stimulator that reduces pain by a useful amount will show up in those notes clearly, and one that does not will show up equally clearly.
The threshold is whether life is measurably better, not whether the number on a pain scale moved. That is the standard the decision is made against.
A stimulator is adjusted rather than set once. Settings are refined over the first weeks as you report what helps in which positions and at which times of day.
Expect it to become part of a broader plan rather than the whole of one. The people who get the most out of a device are the ones who use the reduced pain to rebuild activity, which is where Physical Therapy re-enters the picture.
Prior authorisation is standard for this kind of device and the documented history of previous treatment supports it. That history is one reason the earlier steps are recorded carefully as they happen.
In Colorado most major commercial plans are accepted and most Medicare Advantage plans are in network. Benefits are checked in advance. Assessment requires no referral and is usually available within the same week.
For the wider picture see spinal cord stimulator and Pain Management in Colorado Springs.
Other Colorado Springs pages by complaint: sciatica treatment in Colorado Springs, herniated disc treatment in Colorado Springs, low back pain treatment in Colorado Springs, neck pain treatment in Colorado Springs, knee pain treatment in Colorado Springs and neuropathy treatment in Colorado Springs. And by procedure: epidural steroid injection in Colorado Springs, radiofrequency ablation in Colorado Springs, kyphoplasty in Colorado Springs (at our surgery center in Denver) and nerve block in Colorado Springs.
Every clinic below has Chiropractic, Physical Therapy, Acupuncture and Pain Management on one chart, so care can move between them without a new referral.
Downtown out through the north, west, south and east suburbs.
Academy, InterQuest and Tenderfoot cover the north, central and south of the city.
Harmony in Fort Collins and our Greeley clinic serve Larimer and Weld counties.
Across the Valley, from the West Valley through Phoenix to the East Valley.
Most often people with persistent nerve pain in the legs, or pain that has continued after spine surgery, where the reasonable alternatives have already been tried.
By the trial. Several days living with temporary leads tells you more than any amount of discussion beforehand.
InterQuest on New Allegiance Drive. Assessment and follow-up can stay at Academy or Tenderfoot if those are closer.
Yes. It is designed to be removable, which is part of why it is considered before more permanent options.
Realistically, no. A meaningful reduction that lets you do more is the goal, and that is what the trial is measured against.
Within the trial period. That is the entire purpose of running one.
Usually with prior authorisation. Most major commercial plans are accepted in Colorado and most Medicare Advantage plans are in network.
Yes. The device lowers the pain; rebuilding what the pain took away is still your work and still the thing that lasts.
Spinal Cord Stimulator is performed in office at our InterQuest clinic. No referral is needed to be evaluated, and appointments are usually available within the same week.
