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A full range of minimally invasive treatments for pain
Our interventional pain management program offers the most effective treatments to decrease or eliminate your pain. These treatments are based on three primary strategies: pharmacological (or medicines-based), nerve blocking and minimally invasive procedures.
Pain medications
Often the first line of treatment and the most conservative, pain medications are widely used to treat acute pain from a recent surgery, injury or medical illness. In many cases, acute pain can be managed immediately and will usually get better in just a short time as the patient recovers and heals.
Nerve-blocking injections
For more serious or chronic pain, local anesthetics or medicines can be injected directly into the site of pain, such as around nerve roots and into muscles or joints. These medicines reduce swelling, irritation, muscle spasms and abnormal nerve activity that can cause pain.
Radiofrequency ablation
Radiofrequency nerve ablation offers a more permanent solution to chronic pain by using high frequency radio waves to desensitize nerve endings. By generating heat around a nerve, these waves destroy the nerves’ ability to transmit pain, thus ablating the nerve. Radiofrequency ablation is most commonly used to destroy nerves that supply the facet joints in the spine, one source of back pain.
Disc decompression or fusion
Disc decompressions and fusions are less invasive procedures to alleviate pain caused by bulging discs, pinched nerves or degenerative disc disease. These procedures are performed using fine instruments to either remove or fuse material in the cervical disc to relieve the source of pain. Patients who suffer from conditions that make them higher risks for surgical procedures greatly benefit from these techniques.
Spinal cord stimulators and infusion pumps
These implantable devices deliver electrical stimulation or medication directly to pain receptors. A spinal cord stimulator uses a small wire (called a lead) that is surgically implanted to transmit low-level electrical signals that block pain by producing a mild tingling sensation. Infusion Pumps are a unique drug delivery system that releases programmable doses of pain medication directly into the spinal fluid.
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