Gilbert, Arizona – September, 2016 – Pain, whether it is chronic or acute, can prevent anyone from leading a normal life. Daily activities that you didn’t pay much attention to may become impossible due to intense pain. Extreme, chronic pain can degrade anyone’s quality of life and turn life into a struggle.Many people do not experience relief with medication and other conservative treatments. But thanks to pain clinics in Arizona, such as Desert Interventional Spine Consultants, now there are modern, state of the art pain treatments available, to fight pain and return to normal.
Interventional Pain Management
Interventional pain management is that part of pain medicine that uses pain blocking techniques to increase patient’s comfort and restore the function and motion. Epidural injections, nerve blocks, or implantable drug pumps may be used as part of the treatment.
Interventional pain management techniques are used in cases of severe pain that interferes with day to day activities and conservative treatment doesn’t yield results.
Types of Interventional Pain Management Treatments
Interventional Pain management treatments vary in invasiveness, though most are minimally invasive. Some common techniques used by Arizona pain management doctors have been described here.
Nerve Blocks
Nerves carry pain signals to the brain. Nerve blocks interrupt these signals to relieve pain. The type of nerve block depends on the site and intensity of pain. Most are minimally invasive and may last for days to months, or could even be long-term.
Delivering medicine directly to site of pain
Infusions are used to deliver pain relief drugs directly into the body, for long-term relief. For instance, epidural Infusions are used in the spinal cord.
Injections
Some common types of injections used for pain relief are Epidural Steroid Injections, Facet Joint Injections, and Trigger Point Injections. Each targets different problem areas in the body. Injections generally include a combination of an anesthetic and a steroid.
Radiofrequency Ablation
Radiofrequency Ablation is typically used to treat low back and neck pain, such as in cases of pain due to arthritis. A radio wave is used to produce an electrical current used to heat an area of nerve tissue and stop pain signals from that area.
Spinal Cord Stimulation
Gentle electrical currents are applied to the source of the pain using electrical leads that are inserted close to the spinal cord and a small generator is inserted into the abdomen. The generator emits electrical signals to the spinal column, and interferes with the nerve’s transmission. This prevents the brain from perceiving pain.
To know more about interventional pain treatments or to set up a consultation at the leading Arizona pain management clinic, Desert Interventional Spine Consultants, call 480-838-1914 or visit www.desertspineaz.com.