Typically Employed Pain Management Procedures

Millions of people nationwide deal with chronic pain for a diverse range of reasons. If you are one of these sufferers, you have several pain management procedures to explore, ranging from relatively conservative to more serious methods such as surgery. Here are three avenues you will likely consider.

Conservative Pain Management Procedures

If you are having mild to moderate muscle aches and pains, you might try these conservative pain management procedures:

• Chiropractic Work: This form of bodywork has an emphasis on improving joint and spinal mobility and can relieve pain symptoms in many people.
• Non Weight-Bearing Exercise: Swimming and cycling are some examples of actions that can help in pain reduction.
• Physical Therapy: A practitioner can help you with exercises, extremity and spinal manipulation, and other techniques to help you reduce pain.

Medication

Drugs you can take for pain relief run the gamut from simple non-steroidal anti-inflammatory options (NSAIDs) to strong opioids such as morphine and fentanyl. Some types are available over the counter and some will need to be prescribed and even administered by a medical professional to guarantee safe use.

Minimally Invasive Options

If the above methods have not worked for you, there are other choices to discuss with your doctor. These include:

• Spinal Cord Stimulation: This technique, involving the insertion of a wire and a mechanical device, has proven to be highly effective at helping relieve nerve pain and dysfunction due to a variety of conditions.
• Lumbar Sympathetic Block: Performed to treat leg pain, this procedure is done using injection needles in one of three main ways: injection of a substance that destroys the lumbar sympathetic nerves or a local anesthetic that is long acting, or the employment of radio-frequency energy to eliminate problems with the nerves.
• Epidural Steroid Injection: Typically used for pain in the leg and back or arm/hand and neck, these drugs (usually a solution of an anti-inflammatory steroid, local anesthetic, and sometimes other substances, all long acting) are put into the spine’s epidural area.