Minimally Invasive Treatments for Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is a severe condition that can affect your quality of life. With chronic pain, your body keeps sending pain signals to your brain.

Chronic pain lasts over 12 weeks without any indication of getting better. It can compromise your mobility, flexibility, and strength, affecting your day-to-day activities and leading to mental health issues.

Chronic pain can result from an injury or an underlying condition like endometriosis or fibromyalgia. The first step in treating chronic pain is identifying its cause and then treating it.

There are many conventional treatments for chronic pain, but sometimes the pill burden or recovery from open surgery can be overwhelming. The good thing is there are minimally invasive treatments for chronic pain.

Minimally invasive procedures for chronic pain management are less severe than open surgery. The incision size is small during the procedure, hence less pain and less recovery time. The goal of these procedures is:

• To reduce the pain symptoms.
• To help the patient continue with their daily activities and thus remain active.
• To slow loss of function and improve the quality of life.

Available Minimally Invasive Treatments

Minimally invasive procedures provide more extended relief than oral medications. These procedures include:

Epidural Steroid injections

This procedure is a common pain relief treatment involving injecting a medicine containing a combination of an anesthetic agent and a corticosteroid. The drug is injected directly into the affected body part. You will have better results if you pair it with physical therapy.

Non-surgical Nerve block

This procedure involves the injection of a nerve-numbing medication into a group of nerves that causes pain to a specific area of the body. It can help manage chronic pain.

Joint injections

These injections are non-invasive procedures used in the management of chronic pain. A mixture of corticosteroid and anesthesia is injected directly into the joint.

Spinal Cord Stimulation

This procedure involves delivering low-level electric signals to the spinal cord. A device provides the electrical signals in the body. The doctor will do this through a needle that your doctor injects near the spinal cord on your back.

Prolotherapy

This procedure helps to treat chronic pain in joints and muscles. It involves injecting a saline or sugar substance into the area with pain. Prolotherapy helps your body heal naturally since the substance acts as an irritant that causes immune cells to move to that area.

Radiofrequency Ablation

It is also known as rhizotomy. This procedure involves using an electric current that heats a small area to stop it from sending pain signals.

Final Thought

Chronic pain can affect your general wellbeing, but it doesn’t have to remain that way. Please fill out the form below and visit our website to learn more about alternative ways to manage chronic pain.