Health & Fitness

4 Pain Management Strategies

Managing pain involves using medication, therapy, and other treatments to relieve the severity of discomfort. Whether your discomfort stems from an injury, surgery, or degenerative condition like arthritis, pain management doctors offer a tailored approach. Some conditions heal with pain injections, while others require advanced surgeries. Here are four strategies used to manage pain:

Personalized Treatment

Pain management strategies should feature individualized treatments designed to address specific issues. Pain can originate from:

  • Annular tears
  • Facet joint syndrome
  • Foraminal stenosis
  • Disc hernia
  • Spinal stenosis
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Degenerative disc disease
  • Scoliosis

Your pain specialist identifies underlying causes or triggers for your pain before developing a management plan. Treatment may involve a multimodal approach involving different strategies to provide comprehensive pain relief. Management programs usually feature patient education to teach you coping mechanisms and self-management.

Pain Relieving Injections

Chronic pain caused by neuropathy, degenerative conditions, amputation, and inflammation can improve through injections. Pain specialists use epidural steroid injections and facet injections to reduce inflammation and provide relief. Epidural steroid injections (ESI) involve injecting an anti-inflammatory medicine in the spinal cavity to reduce pain caused by spinal stenosis and disc herniation.ESI can offer permanent relief or last several months for recurrent herniation. 

Facet injections involve injecting anesthesia and anti-inflammatory medicine directly into the facet joint in the spine. The injection provides pain relief for several weeks or months. Pain specialists can also use medication management for temporary or occasional pain relief.

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Nerve Ablation and Stimulation

Pain doctors can use nerve blocking or ablation to provide temporary or permanent pain relief. Nerve ablation involves destroying the nerve and stopping pain signals from being transmitted to the brain. Techniques like Basivertebral nerve ablation use radiofrequency heat to damage the Basivertebral nerve and relieve chronic lower back pain. Radiofrequency ablation also targets specific nerves that carry pain signals from the injured area.

Stimulation involves using electrical impulses to stimulate the peripheral nerve, dorsal root ganglion, or spinal cord. Peripheral nerve stimulation helps relieve localized nerve pain caused by trauma, surgery, amputation, and conditions like diabetes. Spinal cord stimulation addresses nerve pain in your back, arms, and legs. Stimulation techniques usually last for a couple of months and may lead to permanent pain relief.

Implants and Surgeries

Implantable devices can stimulate the spinal cord and nerves or fuse joints to relieve pain caused by degenerative conditions. Devices like iFuse Torq Implants fuse and stabilize the sacroiliac joint. Degeneration or dysfunction of the sacroiliac joint can cause pain in the lower back, buttocks, hips, and legs. The implants are 3D-printed and implanted using minimally invasive surgeries.

Pain specialists may also use the Catamaran joint fusion system, which features a robust titanium implant. The technique is also used to fuse and stabilize the sacroiliac joint. Other options include Superion, a H-shaped spacer used to treat moderate lumbar stenosis. Implants and surgeries help replace worn-out or damaged joints and cushions, relieving pain caused by degeneration.

Get Professional Pain Management Services Today

Pain can make it challenging to work, walk, or sleep. If you experience discomfort that does not respond to conventional treatment, seek a professional diagnosis. Contact a pain management facility today to learn more about their services and what they can treat. 

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