Chronic Pain Specialist

What is chronic pain?

Chronic pain endures for months and often years. The type of pain you feel might be constant or come and go to some degree. Other distressing problems like hypersensitivity or loss of mobility often accompany it.

Unlike acute pain, which warns you when you're in harm's way, chronic pain doesn't do anything useful. In many cases, chronic pain becomes a permanent part of life and takes a considerable toll on your mental and physical well-being.

Chronic pain comes in many forms, but many chronic pain conditions develop in your musculoskeletal system. If you've been in pain for more than three months, and there's no progress in reducing your discomfort, you should consult Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute.

Why do I have chronic pain?

Chronic pain has an extensive variety of causes. It's a defining symptom of some neuromusculoskeletal conditions, including:

• Fibromyalgia
• Peripheral neuropathy
• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Myofascial pain syndrome
• Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)
• Trigeminal neuralgia
• Migraines
• Kyphosis
  
  

Cancer often causes chronic pain that worsens as the disease progresses. Cancer treatments can add to this pain burden.

You might develop chronic pain after injuring yourself if the original injury doesn't heal properly. An excess of scar tissue can also result in chronic pain. Injuries like stress fractures and tendinitis that develop slowly through overuse or irritation often cause chronic pain as well.

Nerve compression or damage can cause some of the most severe chronic pain. Conditions like sciatica (lumbar radiculopathy) and cervical radiculopathy (pinched nerves in your neck) result from pressure on the nerves where they exit your spinal cord. Herniated discs and spinal stenosis are common causes of radiculopathy. 

Nerve compression can happen in other joints; for example, carpal tunnel syndrome causes chronic wrist and arm pain due to pressure on the median nerve. In some cases, nerves send pain signals to your brain even when the tissues the nerves are serving aren't damaged. This is known as neuropathic pain.

What treatments are there for chronic pain?

As chronic pain has so many possible causes, the treatments also vary depending on your diagnosis. The Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute team specializes in using non-surgical approaches such as:

• Physical therapy
• Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)
• Pain medications and anti-inflammatories
• Chiropractic
• Viscosupplementation (hyaluronic acid injections)
• Epidural steroid injections
• Nerve blocks
• Trigger point injections
• Medical marijuana
• Kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty
• Radiofrequency ablation
• Peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS)
• Spinal cord stimulation (SCS)
  
  

While the Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute providers have particular expertise in chronic back, neck, and knee pain, they also excel in treating other chronic pain problems like migraines, using advanced therapies like medical Botox®.

One of the most exciting developments in the treatment of chronic pain is regenerative medicine. These therapies, which include platelet-rich plasma (PRP), stem cells, and exosome injections, use natural proteins like growth factors and cytokines from human tissues to promote healing and new cell growth.

To benefit from the expertise of Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute, call today or book an appointment online.