Comprehensive Pain Management

Acupuncture involves the strategic placement of fine needles in your skin to relieve pain.

Behavioral health specialists may use cognitive therapy and other forms of counseling to help you manage depression, anxiety, and the emotional side effects that can coincide with chronic pain. Behavioral health can also help you learn breathing exercises, muscle relaxation techniques, pain coping skills, and methods to manage stress.

Biofeedback helps to train your body’s functions, including your body’s automatic responses to pain. These include muscle tension, physical expressions, fast breathing, and rapid heart rate. There are different types of biofeedback, but in general, electrodes are attached to sites on your body to measure your body’s responses, such as your brain waves, heart rate, and muscle contractions. Over time, biofeedback helps you understand what causes these body changes and trains you to better control them.

A TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator) unit can be used in your doctor’s office or at home. A portable version is small enough to hold in your hand. When you are experiencing pain, you place reusable electrodes on your back and attach them with wires to the TENS device. Then you turn on the device to deliver mild electricity (it should not hurt) through your skin for 15 to 30 minutes. This stimulates your nerves and interferes with pain receptors in the brain.

Changes to your diet, exercise routine, and sleep habits may be discussed to promote your overall health, decrease inflammation, and manage stress.

Massage manipulates muscles to relax them, ease tension, and improve blood flow and circulation.

Learning to focus your attention on one thing will quiet your mind and help it release endorphins, which are the body’s own natural pain relievers. It also reduces the release of stress hormones, which can cause inflammation and trigger pain.

An exercise routine that improves flexibility and strength may be prescribed to help relieve stress and alleviate pain.

A variety of drugs may be prescribed to treat pain that results from nerve damage or injury. They include anticonvulsants, antidepressants, and gabapentinoids. When taken under a pain doctor’s supervision, they can be effective in helping to manage pain that originates in the nerves.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) medicines can range from over-the-counter to prescription-strength drugs. If those are unsuccessful, prescription medications including steroids and muscle relaxers may also be prescribed.

Opioids block pain messages but do not correct the problems causing your pain. They can be highly addictive and are only prescribed under strict supervision.

Medication can be injected on or near the nerves that are the source of pain. This numbs the nerves and blocks pain signals. Steroid injections may offer relief for pain caused by inflamed nerves. Botox injections, trigger point injections, and joint injections may also be prescribed, as needed.

A surgically implanted pump releases low doses of medication into the space around the spine to reduce pain signals. This minimizes the side effects of high-dose medications and results in better pain control.

Electrodes are implanted on your spinal cord, and a generator is implanted under the skin on the abdomen or buttocks. The generator sends electrical impulses that travel through the electrodes to block pain signals.

Small electrodes are implanted next to a peripheral nerve outside the brain or spinal cord, and a generator is implanted under the skin. Electricity from the generator travels to the electrode to block pain signals sent by the peripheral nerve.