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Leeds woman is technological trailblazer EXCLUSIVE
She may look like an ordinary woman, but Linda Roddy is a technological trailblazer for the second time.
For she is implanted with motion-sensing technology similar to that used in iPhones and Wii console remote controls, but for her it will help her cope with chronic pain.
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Mrs Roddy is the first person in Yorkshire and one of only a handful in the country to be implanted with a new generation pain management device.
Neurostimulators deliver mild electrical pulses to the spinal cord to mask feelings of pain – and she was the first patient locally to have a new type of device 10 years ago.
It worked well, but also meant she needed to adjust it regularly whenever she changed position.
Now the new technology can sense whether the patient is standing, moving or lying down.
Mrs Roddy, from Holbeck, Leeds, said: "It's been fantastic, both the old one and the new one.
"This will be easier because even when sitting in the chair, you would need to keep moving yourself."
The 59-year-old suffers from chronic back and leg pain after three operations on discs in her back.
She struggled badly and 10 years ago was fitted with a neurostimulator which is implanted near the spine.
It uses Spinal Cord Stimulation by sending mild electrical signals through wires which mask pain signals and instead create a tingling sensation.
Mrs Roddy said: "It does not take away your pain but you go from excruciating pain so you don't want to get up in a morning, to something you can cope with."
However moving around can affect the amount of stimulation given so it can become uncomfortable. That meant every time a patient changed position, they had to make adjustments manually.
Mrs Roddy said she felt self-conscious and turned the device off while asleep.
However the new version, which costs 20,000 and means fewer appointments and operations, will know what movements she makes and change stimulation levels automatically, as well as "remembering" how she moves.
The battery for the device, made by Medtronic, was implanted in an operation and Mrs Roddy then returned to see Leeds Pain Management Service, based at Seacroft Hospital, for it to be fully programmed.
Carol Bourne, clinical nurse specialist, said: "To have this new technology is fantastic."
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Friday 25 May 2012
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