According to the National Health Interview Survey, 20.4% of adults in the United States suffer from chronic pain, while 7.4 percent of Americans suffer from high-impact chronic pain that frequently leads to limited daily life and work activities.
Usually, pain medications are prescribed to patients who suffer from chronic pain. Sometimes, they are also recommended to receive physical therapy, massage, hydrotherapy, and perform exercises to get relief. However, in some cases, all these solutions don’t seem to work and the pain persists for a long time.
For these patients, pain management doctors may use one or more of the following methods depending on the type of pain, affected part, its severity, and other factors.
- Stem Cell Therapy
Stem cell therapy is gradually becoming a more popular method to treat the pain caused by health conditions such as osteoarthritis, neuropathic pain, and intractable musculoskeletal condition that doesn’t respond to conventional medicine.
Stem cells are known to have the unique power of growing into many distinct types of cells in the body, replacing the damaged cells, and dividing as long as a person breathes.
During this therapy, stem cells are extracted from the bone marrow, centrifuged to achieve a concentrated supply of stem cells, and then precisely put the cells in the affected area that needs regeneration.
Physician-directed stem cell therapy and tissue engineering can help people of all ages get relief from chronic pain, increase joint mobility, and improve the quality of life.
- Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy
PRP therapy is used to treat pain in the joints and tendons when they are hurt or damaged by an acute injury or overuse. This treatment option is found highly effective in treating pain due to osteoarthritis of the knees and chronic low back pain caused due to degenerative disc disease.
Also called thrombocytes, platelets are produced in the bone marrow and have the main function of inducing clotting and stopping the bleeding of the wound. These platelets carry proteins called human growth factors which can help in boosting the recovery and repair process of an injury.
This therapy uses platelet-rich plasma that is obtained by centrifuging separating platelets from the patient’s blood. This PRP is then injected into the site of the wound to encourage tissue and bone repair.
Pro athletes and sports players often resort to PRP therapy to recover from injuries faster and better.
- Sympathetic Nerve Block
Another treatment used by pain management doctors is a sympathetic block nerve. It helps find the cause and control burning pain or tingling in arms, hands, legs, or feet. During this treatment, certain medicine is injected near the spine to block the sympathetic nerves in the area. The location of the pain helps determine where a patient receives the nerve block.
- Epidural Injections
An epidural injection offers temporary or lasting relief from the pain or inflammation in the spine or arms/legs. Sometimes, imaging is used to guide the placement of the needle in the right location to provide maximum relief. It may also help identify and confirm the exact site of the pain.
- Spinal Cord Stimulator (SCS)
It is chosen as the last resort for pain relief when all other methods don’t provide relief to the patient. A spinal cord stimulator is an implanted device that transmits low levels of currents directly into the spinal cord to interrupt the pain signals and provide relief.
Based on the pain site, cause, and type, a pain management doctor may also use other options to provide you with maximum pain relief when pain doesn’t respond to conventional pain management strategies.
If you are also suffering from chronic pain and not getting any relief from medicines and other therapies, book an appointment with one of the best pain management doctors at Innovative Pain Solutions today.
