Restless Legs Syndrome - RLS and Spinal Stimulation

Can current at my back quieten my legs?

The spinal cord is demonstrably involved in restless legs syndrome, and that is exactly why the idea of stimulating it is so tempting. There are two entirely different routes there: an adhesive electrode on the skin, and a device implanted into the back in an operation. This volume separates them cleanly, because they are constantly lumped together.

It first says what is really different about the spinal cord in this condition: why the reflexes are stronger in the evening than in the morning, and what the iron value has to do with it. Then it assesses the available studies - and explains why a procedure that helps everyone is a bad result.

At the end stands the comparison with all the other stimulation methods, and the explanation of why the peroneal nerve at the knee, of all things, found its way into a guideline while the spinal cord did not.

WHAT IS IN THE BOOK

- What is different in the spinal cord when the legs turn restless in the evening

- Direct current treatment at the back, and how it feels

- What the current did in healthy volunteers and what it did in patients

- What a spinal cord stimulator is and how it is implanted

- How many people with RLS have received such a device so far

- What risks a device that stays in the back carries

- Magnetic stimulation at the head, ear electrode, leg cuff and deep brain stimulation

- Why restless legs can appear for the first time after spinal anaesthesia

WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR

For patients who have been offered a stimulation procedure, for people with a spinal cord injury or a spinal condition, and for everyone regarded as hard to control with medication.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Volume 45 of 52 in the book series on restless legs syndrome, part "Device-Based Treatments and Research". Every volume can be read on its own. The statements in this volume rest on 206 professional sources, each one listed individually in the reference section.