TREATMENTS

Head, Neck and Spine Treatments

Caudal Epidural Steroid Injection

This outpatient procedure is an injection of a steroid and anesthetic medication combination through an opening in the sacrum. The medication can reduce swelling and inflammation of irritated spinal nerves. The injection takes only a few minutes to complete and it can reduce pain to the lower back and legs. This procedure allows a direct route to the epidural space and in cases of patients with prior spine surgery, it can allow the pain physician to obtain access without encountering scar tissue. This procedure can help the pain of Lumbar Radiculopathy due to lumbar stenosis.

Celiac Plexus Block (Percutaneous Approach)

This procedure blocks the nerves of the celiac plexus. These nerves branch away from your spine. They connect to the organs in your abdomen. Pain signals caused by conditions such as pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer travel through these nerves on the way to your brain. A celiac plexus block can relieve your abdominal pain.

Discography (Lumbar)

This procedure, also called a “discogram,” helps your doctor find painful spinal discs. It can show the source of pain in your back. It can reveal Discogenic Pain. In many cases, a spine surgeon will order a discogram to help determine what painful discs to address during surgical planning. To see how it works, let’s watch a discography performed in the lumbar spine.

Facet Joint Injections

The facet joints, found on both sides of the back of the spine, can become painfully irritated or inflamed. This is especially common in arthritic conditions of the spine. A facet joint injection may help diagnose the source of a patient’s pain. It can also relieve pain and inflammation. Facet pain can also be relived with facet nerve or medial branch nerve blocks with subsequent radiofrequency ablation.

Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injection

This injection procedure is performed to relieve low back and radiating leg pain (Lumbar Radiculopathy). Steroid medication can reduce the swelling and inflammation caused by spinal conditions and steroids are theorized to help stabilize nerve endings that cause pain.

Lumbar Transforaminal Epidural Steroid Injection

This outpatient procedure is an injection of a steroid and anesthetic medication combination. The medication can reduce swelling and inflammation of irritated spinal nerves from a Herniated disc. This procedure is performed to relieve pain in the lower back and pain that radiates from the back to the legs (Lumbar Radiculopathy). The injection takes only a few minutes to complete and is highly specific at treating the painful levels.

Radiofrequency Neurotomy of the Lumbar Facets

This injection procedure is performed to relieve pain caused by arthritis in the facet joint. This procedure helps to destroy a sensory nerve implicated in transmitting pain signals from the facet joints. Therefore, this procedure can help pain resulting from Facet Joint Syndrome.

Sacroiliac Joint Steroid Injection

This injection procedure is performed to relieve pain caused by arthritis in the sacroiliac joint where the spine and hip bone meet. The steroid medication can reduce swelling and inflammation in the joint. This joint can become painful due to injury, pregnancy, overuse and arthritis/degeneration.

Stellate Ganglion Block

A stellate ganglion nerve block is an injection that numbs branches of nerves in your neck. This helps doctors find and treat a number of problems linked to the nerves. This procedure maybe effective for a condition called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. Treatment may require a series of injections in combination with physical therapy exercises.

Thoracic Transforaminal Epidural Steroid Injection

This injection procedure relieves pain in the upper back, ribs, and abdomen caused by a pinched nerve (or nerves) in the thoracic spine. It is a highly targeted procedure to address specific levels of pain generators.

Vertebral Augmentation

This minimally-invasive, outpatient procedure is used to treat a compression fracture of the vertebra, an injury that commonly results from osteoporosis and/or injury. This technique can restore the height of the vertebra and stabilize the fracture, providing rapid pain relief. Furthermore, this procedure helps to reduce the risk of subsequent compression fractures of neighboring vertebral bodies.

General Body Treatments

Trigger Point Injections

This procedure is designed to reduce or relieve the pain of trigger points. These small, tender “knots” can form in muscles or in the fascia (the soft, stretchy connective tissue that surrounds muscles and organs). The trigger point injection procedure takes only a few minutes to complete and can be done in the office setting without anesthesia. Trigger points are commonly found in many pain conditions including fibromyalgia.

Arm and Elbow Treatments

Cervical Facet Radiofrequency Neurotomy

This procedure utilizes radiofrequency signalsto treat painful facet joints in your neck by ablation of the facet nerve or medial branch nerve. It eases pain that isn’t helped by medications or physical therapy. This procedure can help patients suffering with facet joint arthritis.

Epidural Steroid Injection (ESI) in the Cervical Spine

This procedure treats the pain from an inflamed nerve in your cervical spine. It relieves nerve root swelling. If you have a herniated disc, spinal stenosis or some other problem that’s pressing on a nerve, it may help you. Untreated nerve compression may lead to nerve damage and weakness in the extremity.

Spinal Cord Stimulation (Medtronic)

Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) uses electrical impulses to relieve chronic pain of the back, neck, arms and legs. It is believed that electrical pulses prevent pain signals from being received by the brain. SCS candidates include people who suffer from neuropathic pain resulting from nerve compression and for whom conservative treatments have failed. This procedure may benefit the neuropathic pain associated with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome or CRPS.