Shocking the Spine Offers an Alternative to Opioids

Like millions of people caught up in America’s opioid crisis, Rick Surkin used to take a pill just to get out of bed in the morning. Until last year, the former firefighter relied on thrice-daily doses of the powerful painkiller OxyContin to numb the agony from a ruptured disc in his back. “You can take enough pills to mask the pain, but they take over your life,” he says. He’s been able to get back on his surfboard, and into the California surf shop he manages, because a medical implant sends 10,000 pulses of low-voltage electricity through his spine per second.

The series of tiny shocks, known as neuromodulation, has kept Surkin comfortable enough to ditch Oxy. “There is a lot more time I’m pain-free now,” he says. That allowed the 64-year-old to resume his outdoorsy lifestyle, but the benefits are more than just physical: His relief has also afforded him more energy and better moods, helping to revive his relationship with his wife. “I’m back to the person she married,” he says.