Interventional Pain Management in Steubenville, OH
Pain management can be challenging because pain can occur almost anywhere – or everywhere – in the body. Narrowing down the location and cause of your pain is critical to effectively addressing your symptoms.
At Premier Pain and Anesthesia, Dr. Luxmi Gahlot works with each patient to identify the reason for your pain and select the most effective and safe methods to treat it. Because every patient reacts differently to pain-relief methods, we take a highly customized approach with our treatment plans. For every method that fails to bring relief, there are other treatment options that may work for you. We will leave no stone unturned to find the one that does.
In-Office Minimally Invasive Interventional Pain Management Procedures
Dr. Gahlot performs several minimally invasive interventional pain management therapies in the office, so there is no need to go elsewhere for the care you need. These treatments include:
Although most commonly known as a cosmetic treatment to relax forehead wrinkles, Botox was approved by the FDA in 2010 to treat chronic migraines.
For patients with at least 15 headaches a month, Botox is administered into shallow muscles around the head and neck, including where your migraine pain occurs. The injections work by blocking the transmission of pain signals to the brain. It can take up to 6 months (and repeated treatments) to obtain the maximum migraine-pain-relieving benefits of Botox.
Trigger point injections offer effective, prompt treatment of muscle pain. They are also used to treat fibromyalgia and tension headaches.
Trigger points are knotted bands of tight muscles that are unable to relax. The area is tender to the touch and often causes referred pain in other seemingly unrelated areas of the body. Overuse and repetitive strain are the most common causes of trigger points. Having multiple or chronic trigger points is sometimes referred to as myofascial pain syndrome.
Injection of an anesthetic and steroid directly into the knotted muscle can alleviate the pain associated with trigger points. Trigger point injections may be used in conjunction with other medications (pain relievers as well as antidepressants and sedatives) and/or physical therapy, depending on a patient’s needs.
Surgery Center Treatments
Guided Injections for Neck and Back Pain
Dr. Gahlot also performs numerous interventional pain management treatments on an outpatient basis in the surgery center, including many specific types of guided injections.
When used to treat back or neck pain, pain management injections may also be classified by where they are administered, including lumbar (low back) injections, cervical (neck) injections, and thoracic (upper back) injections.
Interventional pain management treatments we offer in the surgery center include:
Epidural steroid injections are used to relieve back, neck, arm, and leg pain due to inflamed spinal nerves. A powerful anti-inflammatory (corticosteroid), combined with a numbing agent, is injected into the affected area around the spinal cord (the epidural space) and may be administered in the low back, upper back, or neck. It may take a few days before you experience any pain relief, and effects may last anywhere from several days to 6 months.
Patients with sciatica, degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, or herniated (ruptured) spinal discs may benefit from epidural injections.
With this treatment approach, an anti-inflammatory corticosteroid and numbing agent are injected into a painful area of the back or neck. Specifically, it is injected into one or more of the facet joints located at either side of each vertebra of the spine.
This may be done to relieve pain or rule out the facet joints as the cause of your pain. It may take a few days before the injection provides relief, and its effects may last anywhere from several days to 6 months.
Arthritis commonly causes inflammation at the facet joints and may require treatment with a facet joint injection in order to relieve pain.
Peripheral nerve blocks numb a specific region of the body by blocking the transmission of pain signals from specific groups of nerves.
Although peripheral nerve blocks are commonly used as surgical anesthesia, it may also be performed to provide temporary relief for patients in severe pain.
Peripheral nerve blocks administered as part of a pain management treatment plan are typically given to relieve pain in the shoulder, arm, back, or leg areas. Its effects last just a few days, but this is enough to allow a damaged, persistently irritated, or inflamed nerve time to heal.
Peripheral nerve blocks can also be used to identify which nerves are responsible for a patient’s pain.
This minimally invasive treatment approach destroys the nerve fibers that are sending pain signals to the brain. A hollow needle with a radiofrequency electrode is used to deliver heat to the precise nerve fibers to be destroyed. Even if the nerve regrows, it can take up to a year to do so, so radiofrequency ablation offers reliable long-term pain relief.
Radiofrequency ablation, also called rhizotomy, may be used to treat spondylosis (arthritis of the spine), sacroiliitis, and other conditions resulting in back, neck, knee, or hip pain.
The sacroiliac (SI) joints are located on either side of the spot where your spine and pelvis connect. Sacroiliac joint injections deliver anti-inflammatory steroid medication and a numbing agent into the SI joint. The pain relief can last days, weeks, or months.
Sacroiliac joint injections are used to diagnose and treat leg, buttock, or back pain associated with conditions such as sacroiliitis (inflammation of the SI joint), injury, or other SI joint dysfunction.
Spinal cord stimulation involves implanting a small device just under the skin that sends mild electrical pulses to the spinal cord. It essentially stimulates the nerves where you are experiencing pain. These electrical pulses disrupt the pain signals by masking them so that the signals are not recognized in the brain.
Spinal cord stimulation does not treat the underlying problem causing your pain, but it can bring relief to patients with severe or chronic pain for whom other pain management methods have failed. Patients with the following diagnoses may benefit most from a spinal cord stimulator: failed back surgery syndrome, complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), lumbar radiculopathy, and diabetic neuropathy.
There are many ways to treat and manage pain. Find out if you require interventional pain management to get your symptoms under control. Call Premier Pain and Anesthesia in Steubenville, Ohio, at (740) 792-4110 or request your appointment now.