Pain Management Service Options for Acute Pain

Acute pain occurs suddenly and may indicate an injury, illness, or other trauma. Sometimes, it can be dull and mild, but other times, it can be sharp and severe to make your daily activities challenging to complete. At Saint Louis Pain Consultants, we offer personalized pain management services to help patients improve their quality of life. Here are pain management options for acute pain:

Epidural Steroid Injections

The spinal canal is susceptible to various issues that may cause pain. These may include spinal stenosis, disc herniation, bone spurs, joint cysts, etc. Inflamed spinal nerves may send pain to your arms and legs. When administering epidural steroid injections, the specialist injects a steroid into the epidural space. This space is a fat-filled area that surrounds your spine and protects it from damage. The steroid numbs the spinal nerves around the targeted area, blocking pain signals from reaching the brain. Our pain professionals use a fluoroscope to view the spinal canal clearly and target the injection better. 

Facet Injections

Our pain management services include facet injections as a pain treatment solution. These injections deliver a steroid or anesthetic directly to a joint to help reduce pain and inflammation. Facet joints are small joints that connect various spine segments, and they promote stability and easy movement. They can be affected by arthritis, like other joints in the body, and become inflamed. Facet joint injections provide pain relief to help individuals live more comfortably. We use a fluoroscope machine to administer these injections and deliver the medication to the required targeted area.

Radiofrequency Ablation

This pain management service uses radiofrequency waves to target specific nerves in the body and hinder pain signals from reaching the brain. Before conducting the procedure, we first use anesthesia to identify and verify the nerve causing you pain. We then put patients under light sedation and use a probe to deliver radio waves to an area of the nerve. These waves hinder pain signals from passing through the nerve and reaching the brain. It’s an outpatient procedure and individuals go home the same day. The pain improvement lasts 9 to 15 months, and this is considerably longer than the results some other treatments produce.

Intracept® Basivertebral Nerve Ablation (BVNA)

The Intracept® procedure is minimally invasive and helps individuals suffering from lower back pain. It also doesn’t involve implants, leaving the area free for future treatments. This pain management method targets the basivertebral nerve, which arises from the sinuvertebral nerve and traverses centrally to enter the spinal canal. The Intracept® procedure delivers radio frequency waves to the basivertebral nerve and ablates it, hindering pain signals from passing through and reaching the brain. The process lasts around an hour and happens under anesthesia. It’s safe and cleared by the FDA and has been proven effective in delivering long-term pain relief results. 

Visit Saint Louis Pain Consultants for Quality Pain Management Services

Acute pain can diminish your quality of life and make even the simplest tasks challenging. At St. Louis Pain Consultants, we provide pain management services to help our patients live more comfortable lives. Our pain specialist will evaluate your situation and determine the most suitable method to handle it. Besides these services, we also offer a wide variety of other solutions. Contact us today to book an appointment.