Chronic pain can impact your quality of life and make it hard to carry out your daily activities. If you experience chronic back or neck pain that has benefitted from cortisone injections or nerve blocks in the past, you may benefit from radiofrequency ablation. At St. Louis Pain Consultants, we offer various pain management services, such as radiofrequency ablation to address your chronic pain.
What Is Radiofrequency Ablation?
Radiofrequency ablation is a targeted pain management service that uses thermal ablation to target specific nerves. The nerves are ablated, or burned, so they cannot transmit pain signals to the brain. Before performing the treatment, we test the nerves with an anesthetic medication. This helps us identify the correct nerves that are causing your pain. If the anesthetic medication is successful, we perform the ablation with a probe. The physician makes sure the needle is in the proper position before delivering the radiofrequency waves that destroy the nerves. We typically use light sedation during the procedure, even though it is minimally invasive and a short procedure. Pain relief from radiofrequency ablation can last between 9 to 15 months.
Who Can Benefit From Radiofrequency Ablation?
Patients with chronic pain may benefit from radiofrequency ablation. While this treatment is most commonly used for chronic back and neck pain, it can also treat pelvic, knee, and peripheral nerve pain. Conditions that have seen success with radiofrequency ablation include arthritis of the spine, sacroiliitis, and discogenic back pain, among many others. If you have any of these conditions and have experienced pain relief from the anesthetic medication, you are likely a good candidate for radiofrequency ablation.
What Are the Benefits?
Radiofrequency ablation is a longer-lasting treatment than other pain management options. Many patients who have received cortisone shots come in for this ablation treatment because it lasts longer. Cortisone shots typically last for a few weeks to months at most, while radiofrequency ablation can provide pain relief for over a year. There is also minimal recovery time needed for radiofrequency ablation. Many patients can walk out of the clinic after receiving treatment and return to work immediately.
Radiofrequency ablation is minimally invasive and generally low-risk. Side effects and complications are rare, with the most common side effect being a temporary increase in nerve pain following the procedure. This pain usually subsides within a few days. This procedure reduces the need for pain medication because of its efficiency in reducing pain. Reducing your pain can also help you regain function in the treated areas, and the treatment can be repeated if the pain returns in the future.
Pain Management Services at St. Louis Pain Consultants
St. Louis Pain Consultants offers pain management services such as radiofrequency ablation to help you treat the causes of chronic pain and become whole again. Radiofrequency ablation is a minimally invasive option for long-term relief from chronic nerve pain. We treat the specific nerves that are causing pain and eliminate their ability to transmit pain signals to the brain. This can reduce your pain levels and improve your overall well-being. Contact us today to learn more about radiofrequency ablation and determine whether you are a good candidate for the treatment.
If you are living with chronic pain, seek help from St. Louis Pain Consultants.
We want to help remind you what life without pain feels like.
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