Mark,

I totally hear you about being active before the pain! I was in the military so being physically active was an everyday activity for me. I also use to play competitive volleyball 3 -4 nights a week and on weekends as well as work out in a gym on a regular basis so being sedetary is really hard. My best advice to you during your trial is to have it in as long as you can. I would think 7 days would be long enough to determine if it truly works. I only had mine in for about 3 days. I had a lot of incision pain with the trial so I was not able to be that active. They told me I couldn't lift or twist but they said I could walk and try to do as much as possible. They don't want you to twist or lift because there is nothing really securing the leads during the trial. There was one patient who played tennis during the trial and as you can guess, the leads moved so he had to have them repositioned. My determining factor in deciding to get the permanent was after I had the leads taken out. I could tell a difference afterwards. Without the stimulator on, all the pain came rushing back.....and fast! Now, don't get me wrong. I still had some pain during the trial (minus the incision pain) but I noticed it a lot more after the leads were taken out. My husband also noticed that I walked better during the trial so have your wife evaluate you as well. It's amazing what they pick up and see that we don't because we're so concentrated on the pain.

Good luck with the trial and please keep us informed!! Personally, I would try dancing with your wife during the trial. I would maybe wait until at least the 4th or 5th day into the trial so you have a feel of it and can see if it works for you and maybe something like the fox trot instead of the tango. LOL!!