Each patient’s cause of pain dictates a different form of pain management. There are several pain management techniques that could relieve your pain and your doctor will know which one will work best for you.
The techniques used range from injections to electro therapy. If you are experiencing debilitating pain, see your doctor right away so you can get pain free and get back to a normal life.
Pain Management Methods
Epidural Steroid Injections (ESI)
If you are experiencing leg, arm, back and neck pain caused by irritated spinal nerves then your doctor might prescribe a minimally invasive procedure such as (ESI).
The injections are a combination of a local anesthetic and corticosteroid. The local anesthetic gives immediate pain relief and the corticosteroid portion is used to relieve any inflammation.
Neurolytic blocks are injections used to treat chronic pain in the body when other less invasive therapies have failed. The alcohol or phenol is injected into or around a nerve or into the spine. It is a way to interrupt how the body sends pain signals to the brain. The nerve that receives the injection will become numb and should diminish your pain.
Radiofrequency lesioning is used to treat conditions such as degenerative disc disease, facet arthropathy or generalized fact disease.
This is an outpatient procedure so doctors like to use this pain management technique after other less invasive treatments have not been successful. This procedure interrupts nerve conductions semi-permanently, usually blocking nerves for six to nine months.
Transcutaneous Nerve Stimulation (TENS)
This procedure is used to treat conditions such as postsurgical pain, neurogenic pain, bladder incontinence, visceral pain, arthritic and myofascial pain.
TENS is performed by attaching several electrodes to the patient’s skin. Then an electrical current is used to stimulate the patient’s nerves for therapeutic reasons.