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Living with PAD leg pain? You have treatment options. Peripheral nerve stimulation is a minimally invasive procedure that blocks pain signals, so you can walk and exercise without cramping or discomfort. Here’s how it works.
Do you have cramping, aching, or burning pain in your legs that gets worse with activity? You might have peripheral artery disease (PAD), a condition that affects millions of people, and one that can cause debilitating leg pain that limits your mobility and quality of life.
September is Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) Awareness Month, and at Centers for Pain Control & Vein Care in Hobart, La Porte, Merrillville, Munster, and Valparaiso, Indiana, our team specializes in advanced treatments like peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) to give you much-needed relief.
Why PAD causes leg pain
PAD happens when plaque builds up in the arteries that supply blood to your legs. The buildup makes your arteries narrower, which restricts blood flow to your leg muscles and tissues. When your leg muscles don't get enough blood flow, they can't get the oxygen they need to function properly, especially during physical activity.
Leg pain caused by PAD is called claudication, and it feels like cramping, aching, or burning that typically starts in your calf but can occur anywhere in your leg. The distinctive characteristic is that PAD leg pain worsens with activity like walking or climbing stairs and improves almost immediately with rest.
The pain develops because movement demands increased blood flow to your leg muscles. And when you have PAD, your muscles can't get enough blood, so they accumulate metabolic waste products that create pain. You stop walking, rest briefly, and the pain improves as your muscles' oxygen needs decrease.
PAD is a progressive disease, which means it continues to worsen the longer it’s left untreated. In more severe cases, it can cause leg pain while you’re at rest, sitting, or lying down. Severe blood flow restriction can also lead to sores developing on your feet or toes that don't heal properly.
How peripheral nerve stimulation works works for PAD
Traditional PAD treatments focus on trying to improve blood flow to your legs, but peripheral nerve stimulation takes a different approach. It’s a minimally invasive treatment that interrupts the pain signals that your nerves transmit to your brain, so you feel less pain.
When you undergo a peripheral nerve stimulation procedure, we place a small electrode near the nerves responsible for transmitting pain signals from your leg(s) to your brain. Once activated, the electrode emits mild electrical pulses that interfere with pain signals before they reach your brain.
The beauty of peripheral nerve stimulation is its precision. Rather than affecting your entire body like oral pain medications do, peripheral nerve stimulation targets the specific nerves causing your PAD-related pain. You maintain normal sensation and function, and you experience reduced or eliminated pain without medication side effects or invasive surgery.
When to consider peripheral nerve stimulation
For some people, medication and lifestyle changes are enough to effectively manage their PAD symptoms. But for others, these traditional options offer limited relief. Vascular surgery — like bypass procedures or angioplasty — isn't appropriate or successful for everyone, either.
Peripheral nerve stimulation is an alternative specifically designed to address PAD pain. It doesn’t attempt to restore blood flow, because effective blood flow restoration isn't always feasible. Instead, it eliminates the pain so you can resume walking, exercising, and living without constant leg discomfort.
This September, make the commitment to explore your options. Our team at Centers for Pain Control & Vein Care specializes in treating PAD, and we can determine if peripheral nerve stimulation is appropriate for you. Call 219-476-7246 or request an appointment online today to discover how targeted nerve stimulation could restore your mobility and independence.