Pain, whether mild or severe, can interrupt daily life. It can make it tough to concentrate at work, enjoy time with family and friends, or get a good night’s sleep. It can also make regular tasks feel impossible.
You don’t have to force yourself to tough it out, especially if you are experiencing chronic pain. Thankfully, interventional pain management can help you find relief. Let’s talk about how this treatment plan can help relieve your pain and where you can go in Port Charlotte, FL, for effective pain management.
What Is Interventional Pain Management
Interventional pain management is a branch of medicine that uses minimally invasive procedures to diagnose and treat pain. Treatments under it can provide significant relief for many types of pain.
At its core, interventional pain management uses the body’s natural healing mechanisms to help you recover. It can help you avoid or reduce the need for surgery.
Providers typically perform interventional pain management procedures in an outpatient setting. That means you won’t have to stay overnight in a hospital.
Interventional Pain Management Procedures
There are many types of interventional pain management procedures. The most common are:
Epidural Steroid Injections (ESIs)
ESIs are nerve blocks that doctors use to treat pain in the lower back, legs, and neck. They can also help ease aches from herniated discs, spinal stenosis, and radiculopathy.
Your provider will inject the medication into the epidural space. It is the area around the dura mater, the membrane that covers the spinal cord and the brain.
The medication reduces inflammation around the nerve roots, helping reduce pain. ESIs usually involves a series of three injections, given every 2-4 weeks.
Facet Joint Injections
Also called facet injections, these can help treat pain in the facet joints. These structures are the joints between the vertebrae, or bones, in your spine.
Doctors can also use them to diagnose facet joint syndrome, where the facet joints become inflamed or damaged. These injections involve numbing medication and a steroid, which your provider will administer directly to the affected body parts.
Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA)
RFA is another nerve block providers use to treat pain in the facet joints, back, and neck. It can also help treat migraines and pain after surgery.
RFA uses radio wave-generated heat to damage the nerve tissue. It helps prevent the nerves from sending pain signals to the brain. It can provide long-term pain relief, sometimes for up to 2 years.
It’s a minimally invasive procedure. That means there is little risk, and recovery time is short.
Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS)
SCS uses electrical impulses to treat chronic pain in the back, neck, legs, and arms. Doctors send electrical impulses through electrodes placed near the spinal cord. They work by interrupting the pain signals sent to the brain.
This procedure can also help people with chronic pain from fibromyalgia, cancer, and degenerative disc disease.
Trigger Point Injections (TPIs)
TPIs are used to provide quick relief from muscle pain. They can help relieve myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) or when the connective tissue in the muscles becomes inflamed.
Your specialist will inject the medication into the trigger points or knots in the muscle causing pain. It can be a numbing agent, steroid, or both.
Interventional Pain Management in Punta Gorda & Port Charlotte, FL
If you need a healthcare provider who can provide interventional pain management, look no further than Advanced Orthopedic Center. Our team of highly qualified board-certified orthopedic surgeons and interventional pain specialists offer comprehensive interventional pain medicine services, including spinal cord stimulation, pain relief steroid injections, and radiofrequency ablation. We ensure that our patients receive the kind of care they need to experience less pain.
To make an appointment with us, call us today at (941) 629-6262, or fill out our appointment request form online now. We look forward to seeing you!
