At least 50 million American adults experience chronic pain today. Many sufferers feel hopeless and frustrated after months or years of constant discomfort. If you’re ready to try a better approach to pain relief, Tarpon Interventional Pain & Spine Care, located in Plano, Texas, can help. Board-certified physician Lewis Frazier, Jr., MD, uses the best in chronic pain management techniques, personalized just for you. Call the office to schedule an appointment today.
Chronic Pain Q & A
What is chronic pain?
Chronic pain is long-term pain that lasts for more than six months. It’s different from acute pain, which typically goes away naturally within anywhere from a few hours to several months. Some examples of acute pain include lacerations, dental work, and post-surgical pain.
Common examples of chronic pain include sciatica, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, disc herniation, and neuropathic pain.
Living with long-term pain can limit your physical activity, negatively affect your mental state, and disrupt every part of your life. For all of these reasons, you need to find out what causes your chronic pain and then take steps to interrupt the pain cycle.
How do you diagnose the cause of chronic pain?
Dr. Frazier, Jr. reviews your medical history, asks about how your chronic pain occurs, and gently checks your painful area to determine what kind of diagnostic testing you might need.
Common imaging exams include X-rays, computed tomography (CT) scans, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). You may also need blood tests, an electromyogram to check muscle activity, or a nerve conduction study to evaluate nerve function.
How do epidural steroid injections treat chronic pain?
Tarpon Interventional Pain & Spine Care offers customized solutions targeting your pain. In many cases, as with neck and back pain, epidural steroid injections are a good solution. Dr. Frazier, Jr. places the injection directly in the epidural space close to your nerve roots and discs, so it targets the pain where it starts.
Epidural steroid injections include a steroid to fight inflammation and an anesthetic to stop pain signaling. There are three main types of epidural steroid injections: cervical injections (neck and upper back area), thoracic injections (middle of back), and lumbar (lower back area).
Other steroid injections for chronic pain can include a medial branch block, which pinpoints the origin of your pain, and trigger point injections that focus on tiny areas of muscle pain.
Epidural steroid injections can last from several days to months.
What other options are available for chronic pain treatment?
Other chronic pain treatment options available at Tarpon Interventional Pain & Spine Care include:
Radiofrequency ablation
After a successful medial branch block, Dr. Frazier, Jr. may recommend radiofrequency ablation for longer-lasting pain relief. In radiofrequency ablation, Dr. Frazier, Jr. treats small areas of irritated nerve tissue to significantly decrease their activity.
This treatment can ease chronic nerve-related pain for up to 18 months, possibly even longer.
Prolotherapy injections
Prolotherapy injections are a treatment to improve recovery when you have an injury that is causing chronic pain. Injections of a local anesthetic and dextrose stimulate cellular renewal, which in turn eases your pain.
Regenerative medicine
With regenerative medicine injections, Dr. Frazier, Jr. uses natural human substances, including blood, amniotic fluid, and stem cells, to trigger tissue regeneration. This allows you to recover far faster than you normally would and stops your chronic pain where it started.
Treatments are just one aspect of chronic pain management. Dr. Frazier, Jr. uses physiotherapy techniques to help you recapture full function and live without limitations.
Book your appointment by calling the Tarpon Interventional Pain & Spine Care office today.