Pain is a challenging part of daily life, especially if you have tried several treatments but are not getting relief. Chronic pain can ruin your day as it stops you from going about your regular activities. Therefore, visiting the United Physician Group can go a long way in providing relief and alleviating pain through different pain management services. Pain management involves using injections and other procedures to give relief where standard treatments have failed. Here are five pain management services you can receive to help you manage pain and live a pain-free life.
Epidural Corticosteroid Injections
You can receive these injections if you have pain in your arms and legs resulting from inflamed spinal nerves and have refused other forms of treatment. During your treatment, your doctor will use an X-ray to produce images and guide the needle to ensure it is in the right location. Next, your doctor injects contrast dye at the site and injects the area with steroid medication and local anesthesia. As a result, you will experience quick relief from pain, so you can resume regular activities after 24 hours while you continue feeling the full benefits.
Transforaminal Injections
Your doctor can recommend transforaminal injections to help relieve pain in your legs, lower back, and feet, especially if resulting from herniated discs and sciatica. You may develop pain needing these injections if the nerves running from your spinal cord to your legs get inflamed from damage. A transforaminal injection may help reduce inflammation and pain within thirty minutes after treatment. Long-lasting relief from these injections may take up to three days as the steroid begins working.
Radiofrequency Ablation
You can receive treatment with radiofrequency ablation if you have chronic neck and lower back pain and arthritic joints. RFA aims to reduce pain, improve function, delay surgery, and reduce the frequency of medications. During treatment, your doctor will insert a small needle into the targeted nerve causing pain and attach an electrode. The electrode will send radio waves, and the heat will prevent your nerve from sending pain signals to the brain without affecting your surrounding healthy nerves. As a result, you will enjoy several months of pain relief and can repeat the procedure if needed.
Trigger Point Injections
You can develop trigger point pain after undergoing an active trauma which causes your muscle fibers to stay stuck and feel like a knot. Trigger point injections use local anesthesia and corticosteroid, which your doctor injects in the affected area to alleviate pain. Sometimes, the syringe will have no substance inside, which is known as dry needling.
Nerve Blocks
Your doctor can recommend nerve block injections to offer pain relief. You can receive an occipital nerve block for chronic headaches resulting from irritated nerves and genicular nerve blocks for knee pain. Your results from the injection will vary.
Pain management includes different injections, medications, and procedures to help relieve you after living with pain but finding no relief with conservative treatments. You can benefit from pain management if you have joint pain, lower back pain, chronic headaches, and trigger point pain, among other health conditions causing pain. You can find your effective pain management method after talking with your doctor and determining which method works effectively for your type of pain. After your first successful pain relief, you can schedule another treatment session after the effects of the first treatment wear out.
