Chronic pain is persistent pain that doesn’t go away. The CDC estimates that it affects more than 50 million adults in the United States. The constant ache, throbbing, or burning can disrupt your sleep, prevent you from participating in everyday activities, and have a huge negative impact on your overall well-being.
Put simply, chronic pain can stop you from enjoying life.
Unfortunately, many traditional pain relief treatments fall short when it comes to relieving chronic pain. Painkillers and medications may offer temporary relief, but they address the symptom, not the underlying cause. The cycle of seeking long-term relief and not finding it can be crushing.
But there is hope! Interventional pain specialists offer a new approach to chronic pain treatment, focusing on targeting the source of your pain rather than masking your symptoms. In this post, we’ll explain interventional pain management and the treatments that could help patients find real, lasting relief.
What Is Interventional Pain Management?
Traditional pain management relies on pain medication and physical therapy to help patients manage their symptoms. In many cases, these treatments work by helping patients manage their pain levels while the body heals the source of the pain.
However, chronic pain may be caused by a variety of factors, from nerve damage to spinal stenosis or muscle tension, and these one-size-fits-all pain management techniques won’t offer a long-term solution.
Interventional pain management is a specialized field of medicine that takes a targeted approach to pain, seeking ways to stop the source of the pain instead of simply masking it. Interventional pain specialists are medical doctors with additional training in minimally invasive procedures designed to diagnose and treat the root cause of your pain.
Medication and physical therapy often still play a role in the treatment of chronic pain, but interventional pain specialists have other tools, treatments, and techniques available. They can more precisely target the source of your pain to provide long-term relief.
Treatments Offered by Interventional Pain Specialists
Interventional pain specialists offer several minimally invasive procedures that can tackle chronic pain at its source. Some of the most common chronic pain treatments include nerve blocks, radiofrequency ablations, and injections. By focusing on the use of minimally invasive procedures to stop pain, doctors can offer an alternative to traditional pain management that provides long-term relief without relying on medication.
Nerve Blocks
Nerve blocks use anesthetic or anti-inflammatory medication injections to numb a nerve or group of nerves temporarily. It blocks the nerve signal that tells your brain something hurts. Not only does this relieve pain, but it can also help your doctor pinpoint exactly where your pain originates. The relief from a nerve block can last for days or even weeks.
Radiofrequency Ablations
Radiofrequency ablations are minimally invasive procedures that use heat waves to stop nerve fibers from sending pain signals to the brain. This can provide long-term relief for chronic pain sufferers.
Injections
Interventional pain specialists can use various injections to relieve pain. These injections might include:
- Facet joint injections deliver corticosteroids to facet joints in the spine to reduce inflammation
- Trigger point injections insert anesthetics or corticosteroids into muscle knots that contribute to pain
- Epidural steroid injections deliver steroids to the epidural space around the spinal cord to reduce inflammation and pain
EARH Interventional Pain Specialists Are Ready to Help
Don’t let chronic pain control your life. The East Adams Rural Healthcare team, in partnership with HPM, includes highly skilled interventional pain specialists who understand the frustration of living with chronic pain. They offer a comprehensive approach to pain management that goes beyond pills and focuses on treating the root cause of your discomfort.
You can live a full, active, and joyful life. Contact the EARH pain management team today to schedule a consultation. Let’s develop a treatment plan that can provide lasting relief and get you back to living life … pain free.
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