Dr. Matt Wiederholz Explains The Difference Between Peripheral Nerve Stimulation And Spinal Stimulation- EP 24

On today’s episode, Dr. Danko talks with Dr. Matthias Wiederholz; He is the founder and visionary behind Performance Pain & Sports Medicine, also known as Performance. Performance is a boutique medical practice with a focus on the treatment of acute and chronic pain. Dr. Danko and Dr. Wiederholz have worked together on targeted drug delivery and today they are going to discuss a new therapy called peripheral nerve stimulation of which Dr. Wiederholz is one of the leading experts in the country. 

Episode Highlights:

• Dr. Wiederholz shares how he started medical school in New Jersey and then did his residency training in physical medicine rehabilitation in Houston, TX where he met his wife.
• What is peripheral nerve stimulation?
• This podcast raises awareness about therapy so that patients can understand the options and not lump them all together. 
• Dr. Danko explains how he doesn’t want a patient to disregard a peripheral nerve stimulator because they think it is a spinal cord stimulator or stay stuck with opinions that they may have acquired due to a relatives experience years ago because much has changed.
• Dr. Wiederholz explains peripheral nerve stimulation, the core principles, and how it differs from spinal cord stimulation.
• There is a lot of emphasis on targeting nerves but it is also a therapy that can be used not just for neuropathic but also mechanical pain with joints and other varieties.
• Dr. Danko asks Dr. Wiederholz to share some of the most common sources of pain that he treats with peripheral nerve stimulation.
• What about comorbidities or delaying joint replacement?
• Dr. Wiederholz shares a story about a patient of his and how the gel injections and steroid injections were not lasting; They targeted the nerves around her knee and had great success.
• Where does peripheral nerve stimulation fit in the progression of therapy?
• What about the trial phase for trying it out first?
• Can it help arthritis?
• What will patients feel and not feel when their nerves are being stimulated?
• If someone does some online searching of peripheral nerve stimulation they may see reference to it being a wearable technology. Dr. Danko asks Dr. Wiederholz to talk about it and what it looks like for the daily life of a patient. 
• What is it like to have practices in two different states? For Dr. Wiederholz, he is in Houston, TX and Lawrenceville, NJ. 
• Dr. Wiederholz shares some personal life details about living in two different states and how he balances it.

3 Key Points:

1. When you think of the nervous system there are two main parts: 1) The Central Nervous System which is your brain and spinal cord and then 2) The Peripheral Nervous System which is all the other nerves in your body. There are a huge number of targets for peripheral nerve stimulation.
2. Peripheral nerve stimulation uses electrical impulses to stimulate nerves and block pain signals. The technology does have similarity to spinal cord stimulation however, there are important differences and with peripheral nerve stimulation it is a very targeted approach.
3. Peripheral nerve stimulation has a wide variety of applications for patients not just neuropathic but also including mechanical pain in the joints. 

 

Resources Mentioned:

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