A wide range of surgical procedures has been used in the past to improve or eliminate the symptoms of various movement disorders. Historically, most of these procedures were ablative with the goal of effecting changes in the functioning of neural circuits by destroying various regions in the brain. This was usually done by inserting a probe under stereotactic guidance into the appropriate region of the brain. The tip of this probe was then heated, creating a small lesion in the desired area.

Although effective in many cases, this approach has obvious drawbacks. First, given the permanent nature of these techniques, the effects were irreversible. A lesion that was not optimally placed could not be undone. Also, there was no way to modify or change the effects of a lesion once placed.

Deep brain stimulation has solved many of these problems. Instead of creating a lesion or injury to the brain tissue, stimulation makes use of the effects of electrical stimulation on brain cells to modify activity in the appropriate region of the brain.