Pain Management

Pain Management

The Elliot Pain Management team is devoted to providing comprehensive pain management services. We offer excellent comprehensive pain care to our patients and their families while establishing mutually beneficial partnerships with physicians and other healthcare professionals.

Understanding Pain

Pain is an unpleasant feeling that lets you know that something may be wrong. It is one of the body's warning signals that indicate there is a problem needing attention. Pain can be classified as acute pain and chronic pain.

Types of Pain

Acute pain may come from inflammation, tissue damage, injury, illness, or recent surgery and is usually of short duration, lasting less than a week or two. It typically ends after the underlying cause is treated or has been resolved.

Chronic pain may persist for weeks, months or even years. This type of pain overwhelms all other symptoms. It may affect people so that they often cannot work, lose interest in life, and physical activity of any kind is exhausting and aggravates the pain. Chronic pain is long-standing pain that persists beyond the usual recovery period or occurs along with a chronic health condition, such as arthritis. It may be intermittent or continuous.

Chronic pain involves all aspects of a person's life; therefore, the most effective treatment includes not only relief of symptoms, but also other types of support. A multidisciplinary approach to pain management can often provide the needed interventions to help manage the pain. Skilled professionals are typically part of the pain management team and offer services to meet each of the patient's needs.

Services are provided by the following caregivers:

  • Board-certified pain management physicians
  • Nurses and nurse practitioners
  • Physical therapists
  • Occupational therapists
  • Psychologists
  • Complementary/alternative medicine therapists

Chronic pain problems typically respond best within the structure of a comprehensive pain program that encourages the patient and family to participate and develop coping strategies and skills. The goal of pain management essentially is to help the patient return to the highest level of function and independence possible, while improving the overall quality of life - physically, emotionally, spiritually, and socially. Pain management techniques assist in reducing the suffering experienced by a person with chronic pain.

Diagnostic and Therapeutic Services

Our diagnostic and therapeutic services include but are not limited to:

  • Interventional procedures including epidural steroid injections, nerve blocks, spinal cord stimulation, trigger point injections, facet and medical branch blocks, radiofrequency lesioning, and various joint injections.
  • Physical therapy, occupational therapy, and aqua therapy to include exercise and strengthening.
  • Medical management of chronic pain.
  • Medical and medication management of chronic pain.
  • Emotional and psychological support which may include psychotherapy, stress management, relaxation and deep breathing techniques, behavioral modification, biofeedback, therapeutic yoga, participation in chronic pain support group, positive coping mechanisms, choosing foods to decrease pain for a healthy diet, and Tens unit therapy.
  • Alternative medicine and therapy treatments such as acupuncture, Reiki, biofeedback, mediation and massage.

 

Treatment options include: 

  • Epidural steroid injections: Utilized to reduce the irritation and swelling that leads to pain.
  • Implantable spinal cord stimulators: Methods available to treat pain that does not respond to other attempts.
  • Nerve blocks (diagnostic): Injection at origin of pain to help reduce the irritation and swelling that causes the pain.
  • Medication management: Consultation to help your primary care physician develop a medication routine that manages your pain effectively.
  • Joint injections: Utilized to reduce irritation and swelling in the affected joint.
  • Trigger point injections: A trigger point is a specific area located in or just above a muscle or ligament that generates pain. Injecting these trigger points can help alleviate the pain.
  • Radiofrequency nerve ablation: Injection that delivers radiofrequency waves that interrupt pain signals.
  • Botox injections: Used to reduce muscle spasms.

What to Expect

After we receive the necessary information from your referring physician, we will phone you to schedule your first appointment and conduct a pre-assessment, all of which takes about 20 minutes.

You will be asked to arrive 15 minutes early for your first appointment to complete a brief questionnaire.

We are committed to learning as much as we can about our patients so that we can begin to formulate a treatment plan tailored to your individual needs. Because we offer comprehensive pain management, as a pain management center, it is important that you understand that services with other health professionals may be part of your treatment plan. Typically, you will be evaluated by a pain physician and/or a nurse practitioner. Based on our assessment, your treatment plan may include interventional therapy as well as referrals to physical therapy and/or behavioral medicine.

Our goal is to work with you to develop a treatment plan that will help reduce pain, improve function, and thereby enhance the quality of your life.

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Providers

Our providers and physicians throughout the Pain Management and Interventional Spine Center are dedicated to your health and look forward to caring for you and your loved ones.

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