Neurostimulation lowers the need for opiods in chronic pain

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130610084019.htm
Neurostimulation is an established and growing area of pain therapy that treats nerves with electrical stimulation rather than drugs. 

Long-term opioid use can lead to the need for escalating doses to bring relief, and raises the risk of physical dependence, overdose, weight gain, depression, and immune and hormone system dysfunction.

"Indeed, many patients discontinue long-term opioid therapy due to insufficient pain relief or adverse events."

Neurostimulation belongs to a family of therapies known as neuromodulation because they modulate, or alter, the function of nerves, such as nerves that may have become hypersensitized or damaged, or are otherwise sending pain signals long past the initial injury. 

With, for example, spinal cord stimulation, appropriately selected patients who have had back and/or leg pain longer than six months often find their symptoms relieved by 50 percent or more. The therapy uses slender electrical leads placed beneath the skin along the spinal cord and connected to a compact pulse generator, about the size of a pocket watch, that sends mild current along the leads to elicit a natural biological response and limit pain messages sent to the brain. Patients try the minimally invasive technique to see if it works for them before receiving a permanent implant. 

"A reduction in opioid use among patients treated with spinal cord stimulation was shown in a several studies, notably a 2005 randomized controlled clinical trial led by Dr. Richard North under the auspices of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine,"