Interventional pain management can be a useful alternative for chronic pain sufferers who have not had relief from other pain management procedures. Doctors estimate that at least 100 million Americans live with chronic pain. For many, the pain makes it difficult to sleep, while affecting energy levels and the ability to perform normal daily activities. Novus Spine & Pain Center’s pain clinic in Lakeland, Florida, helps patients with the latest interventional procedures.
Interventional pain management can be a useful alternative for The earliest efforts of interventional pain management date back to 1899 with the origins of regional analgesia and nerve blocks. The term “interventional pain management” was first used by pain management specialist Steven D. Waldman in 1996.
Today, pain doctors like Dr. Benito Torres use a variety of modern interventional procedures to treat chronic pain.
What is Interventional Pain Management?
The American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) defines interventional pain management as a discipline of medicine devoted to diagnosing and treating pain-related disorders.
Interventional pain medicine uses a multidisciplinary approach, in which a team of health care professionals provides a full range of treatments and services for patients suffering from chronic and/or acute pain. Doctors typically implement interventional methods when pain is significant enough to disrupt normal daily activities.
Interventional pain management aims to relieve or manage pain to improve the patient’s overall quality of life through minimally invasive techniques. The typical candidates for interventional pain management are patients who have failed to find pain relief with conservative therapies.
Interventional Pain Management Procedures
Interventional pain management uses minimally invasive techniques such as nerve blocks or implantable drug delivery systems. Some of the more common interventional procedures include:
- Radiofrequency Nerve Ablation is the use of radiofrequency waves to heat and destroy nerve tissue, thus reducing pain signals that are emitted from the source. Performed using X-ray guidance, radiofrequency nerve ablation delivers precisely controlled heat to temporarily and selectively disable nerves identified as being responsible for pain.
- Discography is an “inside” look at the spinal discs to determine if they are the source of pain.
- Percutaneous Discectomy/Nucleoplasty is a procedure to remove tissue from the spinal disc in order to decompress and relieve pressure.
- Injections. Steroid injections target pain points in the body to reduce inflammation. Commonly administered injections are muscle and joint injections. Additionally, facet joint, trigger point, and epidural injections can help relieve pain resulting from osteoarthritis and other inflammatory conditions.
- Pain Pump. This device is surgically implanted and delivers pain medications directly to the location where the pain originates.
- Nerve, root, and medial branch blocks are procedures that interrupt the nerve-to-brain signals to relieve pain. The block can also help reduce inflammation. Sometimes a block is used as a diagnostic tool.
- Rhizotomy is a procedure using heated electrodes that “turns off” pain signals when applied to specific nerves.
- Spinal Cord Stimulation is the application of an electrical current to the source of pain via a tiny, implanted medical device. The electrical signals block the brain’s ability to perceive pain signals.
Conditions Treated with Interventional Pain Management
Some of the pain conditions and disorders treated with interventional pain management techniques include:
- Arthritis.
- Central pain syndromes (post-stroke pain, post-spinal cord injury pain).
- Cervical and lumbar strain.
- Chest wall pain.
- Chronic low back and neck pain.
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (also known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy).
- Degenerative disc disease — cervical, thoracic and lumbar.
- Facet disease — cervical, thoracic and lumbar.
- Facial pain — TMJ, neuromas (trauma), atypical facial pain.
- Headaches (occipital neuralgia, migraines, tension headache, cluster headache).
- Herniated disc.
- Malignancy.
- Musculoskeletal pain.
- Myofascial pain syndrome.
- Peripheral or diabetic neuropathy.
- Phantom limb pain/post-amputation pain.
- Post-herpetic neuralgia and herpes zoster.
- Post-surgical pain.
- Post-traumatic pain syndrome.
- Radiculopathy, cervical, thoracic and lumbar.
- Sacroiliac joint pain.
Novus Spine & Pain Center
Dr. Torres established Novus Spine & Pain Center in Lakeland, Florida, with the goal of providing the highest quality pain management care to every patient. Whether pain is the result of an injury or from another condition, Dr. Torres offers many different treatment options.
Novus Spine & Pain Center utilizes a comprehensive approach and cutting-edge therapies to restore normal function and allow patients to regain an active lifestyle while minimizing the need for opiates. As our patient, you are our top priority. Our goal is to help you achieve the best possible quality of life.
Our Mission Statement: To provide the best quality of life to people suffering from pain by providing state-of-the-art treatments, knowledge and skill, compassion, and respect for all.
For your convenience, you may schedule an appointment online, request a call back, or call our office at 863-473-7849.
Interventional Pain Management Resources
Interventional Pain Management: A Comprehensive Approach to Chronic Pain (Spine Universe)
Pain Clinics: What to Know (WebMD)
Pain Medicine (Mayo Clinic)
Pain Management (Johns Hopkins)
Do You Need to See an Interventional Pain Specialist? (Hospital for Special Surgery)
Interventional Pain Management (Cedars-Sinai)
Interventional Pain Procedures Under Imaging Guidance (Mount Sinai)