In 2005, Kristy Jarvis was driving to work when she was crushed by a shipping container full of scrap metal that fell off a truck driving in front of her.
"It just sheared the whole roof off the car, as it went over the top of me," Ms Jarvis said.
"From the waist down, I was crushed for about an hour and a half."
A major nerve in her left leg was severed in the crash, beginning a 16-year journey with chronic pain.
"It was frustrating," she said.
"I've done lots of different things to try to fix it, but nothing was ever successful."
To manage the pain, she took opioids for more than a decade.
But Ms Jarvis was still unable to go out for dinner with friends, drive long distances, and exercise.
"Horrible side effects. I couldn't function on them [the pain medication]," she said.
"I [would] hold off until nighttime to take them because I knew I couldn't drive and I couldn't hold a conversation."
But everything changed when she started seeing a pain specialist and tried spinal cord stimulation, which has reduced her pain.
"I wouldn't go out for dinner or make plans with anyone … because I couldn't stand it.
"But now I can go and enjoy time with friends, and I can do things around the house, and I don't have to ask for assistance.
"We've slowly been reducing my pain medication. I'm down to almost nothing now."
Doesn't work for all but a 'game changer' for some
Specialist pain physician Symon McCallum suggested spinal cord stimulation for Ms Jarvis, which can help patients with chronic neuropathic pain.
"Spinal cord stimulation has been for around 50 years," Dr McCallum said.
"With technology, it has changed a lot recently and it's changing almost on a monthly basis as the technology improves."
The therapy uses leads placed surgically in the spine that attach to a device called an Implantable Pulse Generator (IPG), which is implanted under the skin.
The IPG, through the leads, delivers electrical pulses that disrupt the pain signals to the brain and the therapy is controlled by the patient through a controller.
"So, it's very good at helping with nerve pain in the arms and legs," Dr McCallum said.
"It is not a cure, it's not suitable for all patients, it won't make them pain free."
After trialling the technology, Ms Jarvis had the IPG implanted in November last year.
She found it allowed her to regain control of her life, by reducing the severe pain she used to experience all day every day.
"I just have a controller that I carry around in my pocket and I can change it if I need and it's great," she said.
Lack of pain specialists in regional areas
Based in Melbourne, Dr McCallum spends two days a month with Bendigo patients — something he could easily expand if he had time to see more patients.
"I can't meet the demand, not even close to meeting the demand of the chronic pain problem," he said.
"I'm the number one pain specialist in Bendigo, because I am the only one [in Bendigo]."
He said around one in five people in Australia experienced chronic pain.
And there are nowhere near enough doctors specialising in pain management to meet the demand.
"It is a huge problem," he said.
"It's incredibly expensive, it ruins people's lives, it ruins the lives of the people around them."
