Medical Interventions for Pain Management

Medical Interventions for Pain Management

There are several different types of medical interventions for pain management. Injections for pain work by putting medicine right where it hurts or is swollen. They can help with things like certain types of back pain, joint pain, arthritis, and nerve pain.

There are a few different types of injections. Epidural steroid injections are used when the spinal nerves are inflamed. Your doctor will inject steroids into the space around the spine to help reduce pain for a few months. This is used to reduce nerve impingement symptoms occurring in the spine when a nerve is pinched or compressed.

Nerve blocks involve injecting local anesthetic drugs near specific nerves to stop them from sending pain signals. This can help with different types of nerve pain.

Dry needling or muscle injections can be helpful for chronically painful muscles. Your doctor will insert a needle and sometimes inject numbing medication, right into the muscle to ease pain and make the muscle work better.

Joint injections are used for arthritis pain in joints like knees, hips, and shoulders. Steroids and local anesthetics are injected into the joint to provide relief that can last for weeks or months.

Bursa injections treat inflammation in the bursa, a small fluid-filled sac. Steroids and local anesthetics are injected into the joint to provide relief that can last for weeks or months.

Botulinum toxin injections, or Botox, help with muscle spasms and chronic pain, like migraines. Botox is injected into specific muscles to relax them and block pain signals for several months.

Nerve ablation is a treatment for pain that involves destroying specific nerves to stop them from sending pain signals to the brain. An anesthetic may be used to numb the area, so you don't feel pain during the procedure. The doctor uses heat, cold, or other methods to damage the nerves. By doing this, the pain signals can’t reach the brain, which helps reduce the pain you feel. It’s often used for long-lasting pain that hasn’t improved with other treatments.

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation, called TENS, is a treatment that helps with pain using small electric pulses. Small sticky pads are placed on your skin where it hurts. A machine sends gentle electrical pulses through the pads. The pulses help block pain signals and can make you feel better.

TENS is often used for different kinds of pain, like back pain or arthritis.

Pain Medications help to reduce pain or eliminate it altogether. Watch our video on Medications for Pain Management for more details on the variety of medications that can help reduce pain.