Interventional Pain Medicine

When you have an injury that affects your ability to play sports and exercise, sports medicine can help. Non-surgical orthopedic therapy and other alternatives to surgery can be used to rehabilitate injured shoulders, knees, ankles, and more. Sports medicine can also be used for young athletes with throwing injuries, kicking injuries, and general sprains and strains. One type of non-surgical treatment we offer is PRP therapy. Instead of making an incision, we give an injection of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to stimulate healing at a cellular level. We also do BMC (bone marrow concentrate) therapy, which has a similar effect. These methods have been very effective for our patients with sports and exercise injuries.

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People who suffer from severe osteoarthritis, specifically in their knee, can benefit from viscosupplementation. This treatment is designed to replace the synovial fluid inside the joint. In cases of severe arthritis, the cartilage and synovial fluid may be nearly or completely gone. If you are not a candidate for joint replacement surgery, your doctor may recommend viscosupplementation (SUPARTZ). Viscosupplementation has allowed many patients of ours to reduce or eliminate the need for knee replacement.

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Neck pain is one of the most common types of pain we see in our clinic. The pain may be the result of an accident that happened at work, during sports, or in a motor vehicle collision. Many types of physical therapy and chiropractic adjustments can help, but we may need to go one step further if you pain de not subside with traditional therapy. We recommend therapeutic injections or nerve blocks to treat the pain. Options include the epidural steroid injection, cervical nerve root block, facet joint injections, and discography.

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Pain in your chest area could be indicative of a problem with your thoracic spine, which runs between the cervical (neck) and lumbar (low back) spine. When the pain does not respond to physical therapy or chiropractic adjustments, there may come a time to consider having a thoracic procedure done. The right procedure will depend on your diagnosis. Some of the more common thoracic procedures we do include epidural injections, vertebroplasty for spine compression fractures, and radiofrequency rhizotomy or nerve blocks for facet joint pain.

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Lumbar procedures are used to target pain in the low back, including the sacroilliac joint and facet joints. Low back pain may be the result of a pinched nerve, herniated disc, or spinal compression. Rather than have back surgery, an interventional pain medicine doctor will design a treatment plan that uses therapeutic injections to reduce inflammation and swelling and pain. We do diagnostic and therapeutic lumbar procedures including discetomy, intradiscal electrothermal therapy (IDET), and spinal decompression. Pain-relieving injections and nerve blocks are available for any area of the low back.

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For pain that persists in the pelvic or abdominal area, you may not be aware of how pain medicine can help. We use selective nerve blocks to shut down the pain receptors in the brain for the area where the pain is felt. These nerve blocks can be used for diagnostic as well as therapeutic purposes when caring for patients. If you have pelvic pain or severe abdominal pain that is too much to bear, talk to one of our experts about your options.

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Patients who are suffering from complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) may benefit from infusion therapy using ketamine. This pain treatment is an alternative to opioid therapy, which carries a high risk of dependency. Ketamine can treat the burning sensations and nerve-related pain that comes with having CRPS. It works by disabling the nerve endings, so pain signals are not sent or received.

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When you need a steady supply of pain medication delivered to the central nervous system, the last thing you want to do is spend your days in a hospital receiving IV drug therapy. There is an option implant a spinal drug pump that will deliver ongoing pain medicine to manage severe chronic pain. Patients with severe spasticity may be candidates for the intrathecal baclofen pump. The pump may need to be surgically implanted.

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The spinal cord is the communication highway that transmits pain signals from nerve endings to the brain. For someone who suffers from chronic pain in the arms, legs, or spine, a spinal cord stimulator can help. Similar to electrotherapy, a spinal cord stimulator emits tiny electrical pulses that target pain throughout the body. The brain is unable to sense the pain with the stimulator in place. This procedure requires surgical placement of the electrodes and wires, but only after a successful one-week trial with an external stimulator.

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There are many more procedures that an interventional pain medicine doctor can do, and the list keeps growing. We offer nerve blocks, nerve stimulation, and injection therapy for all areas of the body. At Paramus Medical & Sports Rehabilitation Center, we will explain all of your options and guide you to the most appropriate choice. Here are some of the additional procedures we offer:

• Trigeminal Neuralgia
• Occipital Nerve Block
• Peripheral Nerve Stimulation
• Hyalgan Injection for Knee Pain
• Shoulder Joint Injection
• Fluoroscopic-Guided Hip Injection
• Epidural Blood Patch

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