Bone Stimulator Uses

A bone stimulator is a device that uses low-frequency electrical currents or ultrasound to initiate bone growth and decrease the healing time for broken bones. A doctor can implant the device internally, or attach it externally to a patient's skin, based on information from Spine-Health. Health care providers employ bone stimulators after the damaged bone has surpassed a healing period, usually around nine months, and hasn't completely healed. It usually takes three months for a bone stimulator to heal the bone.

Heal Broken Bones

• Bone stimulators can help heal broken bones in any area of the body, though they are especially useful when used to treat long bones. Physicians implant internal bone stimulators by placing the electrodes, devices that transmit the electrical current, into the damaged bone. The battery pack that provides power for the stimulator is placed in muscle tissue near the bone. External stimulators have electromagnetic coils that a doctor places on the skin on both sides of the damaged bone. These coils continuously transmit electrical currents back and forth, indicates Health and Nutrition Tips.

Spinal Fusion

• Spinal fusion is a surgical procedure employed to end extreme back pain, or prevent spinal cord damage, by using bone fragments to merge adjacent vertebrae. Doctors use bone stimulators on patients who undergo this procedure and are unlikely to have a successful fusion, smokers or patients who require revision surgery for a previous failed spinal fusion surgery, according to Spine-Health. Bone stimulators enhance the healing period and rate of success for this type of surgery.

Pseudarthrosis

• Pseudarthrosis, or false joint, is a medical condition that occurs when a broken bone fails to heal properly, or a spinal fusion surgery is unsuccessful. This condition usually results in pain whenever there's movement involving the damaged bone. Electrical stimulators, specifically ultrasonic osteogenesis machines, can help patients who suffer from pseudoarthrosis because of a failed spinal fusion surgery or a broken bone that requires further healing. This device uses pulsed sound waves to heal pseudoarthrosis and restore a patient's normal range of movement, based on information from HighMark.