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Understanding pain

Pain is the body’s way of alerting you that something is wrong. It is more than just “hurting”, and can affect you more than just physically. It can also affect you mentally and emotionally. Therefore, it is imperative to seek medical advice. The key step to relieving pain is identifying the source. At PeCora Medical & Pain, we know the importance in achieving a good diagnosis and we are experienced in treating diverse areas of pain.

Conditions

    • Back Pain: Back pain is one of the most common conditions in managing pain because it affects a large percentage of the population at some stage in their lives. Conditions such as bone fractures, kidney stones, cancer, ruptured aortic aneurysm, or infections may present as back pain. The causes of back pain are numerous and most are are varied and most time limiting that improve with conservative care and time. The most common cause of back pain is “strain which usually improves with a few days of rest and, if needed, over the counter medications. Other causes such as degenerated vertebral disc and spinal joint (facet joint) arthritis can predispose individuals to more frequent back pain.

 

  • Neck Pain
  • Knee Pain
  • Facet Joint Pain: Facet joints are paired joints that connect vertebrae in the back of the spine. The surface is composed of cartilage which reduces friction between the bones. Additionally, the joint is surrounded by a capsule that is filled with a small amount of synovial fluid, which provides additional lubrication and reduces friction between the bones.
  • Joint Pain
  • Shingles
  • TMJ
  • Post-Surgical Pain
  • Sciatica
  • Myofacial Pain
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Headaches
  • Carpal Tunnel
  • Plantar Fasciitis

Interventional Pain Medicine

There are numerous innovative methods used today to treat pain for long term relief. Dr. James Winbush, has specialized training in interventional pain management and can help design a tailored treatment plan that is right for you.

One of the most popular interventional pain management techniques are:

Injections (also known as blocks)
Injections provide direct delivery of steroids or anesthetic into joints, ligaments, muscles, or around nerves. These injections may provide relief of pain (often temporary) and can be used to confirm if the injected structure is the source of the pain, clarifying the diagnosis. Epidural injections can provide temporary relief for upper extremity or lower extremity pain due to a pinched nerve in the spine.

Injections for Back Pain Relief

One of the most performed injections is the epidural steroid injection. In this approach, a steroid is injected directly around the dura, the sac around the nerve roots that contains cerebrospinal fluid. Prior to the injection, the skin is anesthetized by using a small needle to numb the area in the low back (a local anesthetic). Epidural Injections around the dura sac with steroid can markedly decrease inflammation associated with common conditions such as spinal stenosis, disc herniation, or degenerative disc disease. It is thought that there is also a flushing effect from the injection that helps remove or “flush out” inflammatory proteins from around structures that may cause pain.

Cervical Epidural Steroid Injection

The video above provides an overview of cervical epidural steroid injections. A cervical epidural steroid injection delivers steroids into the epidural space surrounding spinal nerve roots to help alleviate pain in the upper spine/neck caused by irritated nerves.


Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injection
The video above provides an overview of lumbar epidural steroid injections. A lumbar epidural steroid injection delivers steroid medication directly to spinal nerve roots in order to reduce leg pain (also known as sciatica) and lower back pain. These types of pain can be caused by a spinal condition such as a lumbar herniated disc, which places pressure on nerve roots leading out of the spine.


Knee Pain

Knee Content Here