How Can Interventional Medicine Resolve My Chronic Pain?

Has your chronic pain become severe enough to interfere with your daily activities? Have you been trying to manage your pain with more conservative treatments but haven’t gotten the relief you need? 

Don’t allow chronic pain to hold you back any longer. Interventional medicine may be the solution you’re searching for, and our team at Houston Pain Specialists, led by pain management specialist Hui Kang, MD, has the experience to help.

What is interventional medicine?

Interventional medicine is a multidisciplinary approach to pain management that uses pain blocking techniques to reduce pain, make daily activities easier, and restore quality of life. 

This method is typically used when conservative therapies, such as prescription medicine and physical therapy, have failed to provide the level of relief you need.

There are several types of treatments that vary in their degree of invasiveness and are tailored to your specific pain management needs. These treatments include:

Injections

We offer facet joint injections, epidural steroid injections, and trigger joint injections. Each injection targets different spots to reduce pain, and they’re typically accompanied by a numbing agent and steroid.

Infusions

Infusions are delivered straight into your body and are typically for long-term use. Intrathecal infusions are delivered to the brain, and epidural infusions target the spinal cord.

Nerve blocks

These nerve-numbing medications treat pain in several parts of your body. There are multiple types of nerve blocks that serve different parts of the body and range from therapeutic nerve blocks to preemptive and diagnostic nerve blocks. 

The invasiveness of nerve blocks is highly variable and depends on your specific needs.

Spinal cord stimulation

Spinal cord stimulation blocks your brain’s ability to perceive pain. This treatment involves the use of electrical leads and a generator to send electrical signals to your spinal column in order to block pain signals.

Peripheral nerve field stimulation

This treatment is similar to spinal cord stimulation, but is localized to other parts of the body in which you have pain. It also uses electrical leads and employs the same general process as spinal cord stimulation.

Radiofrequency ablation

We usually use radiofrequency ablation to treat lower back, neck, and knee pain related to arthritis. It creates an electrical current using radio waves to heat an area of nerve tissue and decrease pain signals.

How interventional medicine can help

Each of the aforementioned procedures is highly dependent on your type of pain and where your pain is located. Dr. Kang assesses your pain, discusses your options with you, and then recommends the best course of action to treat your pain. 

Some treatments may be short-term and require more than one treatment to attain the relief you’re looking for. Other treatments are long-term but may be more invasive.

Major surgery can be accompanied by complications and could perhaps even create new pain. Opting for interventional techniques such as these can reduce or eliminate your pain without the worries associated with surgery. 

By reducing your pain or blocking it entirely, we enable you to return to the normal activities you previously enjoyed but might not have been able to do comfortably.

Say goodbye to the pain that’s been hindering you from fully enjoying your life. Give us a call today to schedule an appointment.