Procedures used in Pain Management
Identifying the right procedure to treat pain is essential for a patient’s quality of life. FSIPP’s primary focus is to offer doctors and their teams resources to diagnose and treat pain patients. Additionally, FSIPP offers pain patients useful information and tools to help them learn about pain, locate an FSIPP member pain doctor in their area, and connect with organizations that directly serve pain patients in the State of Florida.
Epidural steroid injections
This treatment helps us treat irritated spinal nerve roots that cause pain in your neck, shoulders, arms, upper and lower back, buttocks, or legs. Many conditions can cause this type of pain, such as herniated disc, degenerative disc disease, and arthritis. X-ray guidance helps us inject low doses of long-lasting corticosteroids (potent anti-inflammatory pain medications) directly into the source of the pain. This approach decreases inflammation and helps you feel better. We perform these procedures in about five minutes. We can use either local anesthesia or comfortable sedation.
Medial branch blocks/facet joint injections
These injections, which are performed using X-ray guidance, help diagnose and treat pain that comes from the small joints of the spine (facet joints). Disease in these joints, including arthritis, can cause pain in the head, neck, upper and lower back, and buttocks. These procedures take about five minutes and we can use either local anesthesia or comfortable sedation.
Radiofrequency nerve ablations
Help treat back and neck pain. Using radiofrequency nerve ablation under X-ray guidance, we deliver precisely controlled heat to temporarily and selectively disable nerves responsible for pain. The procedure takes about 20 minutes. We use either local anesthesia or comfortable sedation.
Major joint injections
Help relieve pain from many causes, including osteoarthritis. We inject medications such as corticosteroids, local anesthetics, or hyaluronan (i.e., Synvisc, Hyalgan, orthovisc) directly into the source of the pain. To find the precise right location, we use either X-rays or ultrasounds. This procedure takes two minutes.
Kyphoplasty (balloon kyphoplasty)
This treatment is useful if your pain stems from a spine fracture (such as vertebral compression fractures). We thread a small balloon through an incision in the back to the site of the injury. Then we inflate it to gently push any damaged bone back into place. Finally, we insert cement into the site to hold the bone in proper position. We perform this procedure in an operating room using both local anesthesia and sedation.