Interventional Pain Procedures at Our Clinic

Forest Health Ypsilanti hospital, June 5, 2013. Doctors and o

When you’re experiencing chronic pain, you have more options than just learning how to live with it. In fact, one of the best things you can do for chronic pain is to take an active role in your treatment. The Heilman Center for Pain and Spine Care’s board-certified physicians provide interventional pain treatment techniques that can lessen and even alleviate your chronic pain. Our advanced interventional pain treatment methods relieve pain, improve function, and enhance your quality of life.

What Is Interventional Pain Management?

Comprehensive interventional pain management helps provide long-term relief to people who have been in pain for a long time. It also helps people who are in moderate to severe pain that hasn’t responded to other conservative treatments. Interventional pain specialists focus on finding the root cause of your pain to solve the problem at the source.  Pain doctors who specialize in interventional pain management have advanced training in diagnosing causes of pain and treating it with minimally invasive procedures instead of masking pain with pills.

The interventional pain specialists at The Heilman Center offer dozens of options for treating chronic pain. They will develop a customized treatment plan that includes a range of options recommended for your unique situation.  These procedures are FDA approved, insurance-covered  treatments based on cutting edge pain treatment research.

If you would like to learn about your options for treating your chronic pain, get started today by scheduling a consultation with one of the experienced Pain Specialists at The Heilman Center for Pain and Spine Care to discuss your unique situation.

Minimally Invasive Procedures

Vertiflex Superion® Indirect Decompression

  • What it treats: Lumbar spinal stenosis
  • How it works: By creating space in the spinal canal to relieve pressure on pinched nerves
  • What to expect: Doctors place a small, flexible device between two vertebrae of the spine through a small incision about 1” long.

Dekompressor Discectomy

  • What it treats: Compressed nerve pain from herniated discs
  • How it works: By creating more space for compressed nerves and relieving pinched nerve pressure
  • What to expect: Doctors insert a small tube into the affected disc and then thread a tiny drill through the tube. The drill shaves away a miniscule part of the disc nucleus to create more space around pinched nerves.

Intradiscal Electrothermal Therapy (IDET)

  • What it treats: Lower back pain caused by herniated disc or degenerative disc disease
  • How it works: By using heat to shrink and repair tears in the membrane surrounding the discs
  • What to expect: Doctors insert a catheter near the affected disc and then insert a heating wire through the catheter. Then, they apply heat to thicken the disc’s collagen, which helps to close minor tears and cracks

Intrathecal Pump Implant

  • What it treats: Chronic pain from cancer, pancreatitis, CRPS, and other causes; spasticity from multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and other disorders
  • How it works: By injecting small amounts of pain medication into the space around the spinal column
  • What to expect: Doctors make a small abdominal incision to place a pain medication pump near the spinal cord. You will have to periodically see the doctor for medication refills or for minor adjustments of the device.

Kyphon Balloon Kyphoplasty

  • What it treats: Vertebral fractures including those caused by osteoporosis
  • How it works: By restoring the proper shape to the affected vertebrae, which then allows doctors to use bone cement to rebuild the vertebrae
  • What to expect: Doctors guide orthopedic balloons into the vertebrae and inflate them. When the pieces are in their proper places, doctors deflate the balloons, remove them, and use bone cement to repair the vertebrae (vertebroplasty).

MILD

  • What it treats: Spinal stenosis including those caused by Osteoporosis
  • How it works: By reducing pressure on the nerves that results from narrowing of the spinal canal, alleviating pain and numbness
  • What to expect: Doctors use tiny instruments to remove excess bone and tissue pressing on the spinal nerves

Neurotomy

  • What it treats: Different types of pain, particularly around the facet and sacroiliac joints
  • How it works: By using radiofrequencies to generate heat, which creates a lesion on the nerves and temporarily eliminates pain
  • What to expect: Doctors insert needles into the skin above your spine. Then, using advanced imaging technology, doctors deliver the radiofrequency to the nerves.

Percutaneous Disc Nucleoplasty

  • What it treats: Pinched nerve pain from herniated or degenerated spinal discs
  • How it works: By removing some of the internal disc material and releasing pressure on the nerves
  • What to expect: Doctors insert a small tube into the affected spinal disc and then use radio waves to break up a small bit of the disc’s gelatinous center. Doctors then remove the bits of disc, resulting in less pressure against the nerves.

RACZ Caudal Neurolysis

  • What it treats: Swelling and scar tissue from previous back surgeries that start to compress the spinal nerves
  • How it works: By reducing inflammation and numbing pinched nerve pain
  • What to expect: Doctors insert a small catheter within the epidural space in the lower back and deliver medication through the catheter.

Spinal Cord Stimulation

  • What it treats: Failed back surgery pain, chronic pain from CRPS, and other types of chronic pain
  • How it works: By sending electrical impulses into the nerves, interfering with pain signals traveling to the brain
  • What to expect: Doctors start by stimulating the spinal cord with an electrode on top of the skin. If treatment helps to alleviate pain, doctors insert a wrapped wire beneath the skin, against the spinal nerves or near the spinal cord. Doctors will instruct you to activate the electrical stimulus according to a prescribed schedule.

Vertebroplasty

  • What it treats: Vertebral compression fractures
  • How it works: By strengthening and rebuilding fractured vertebrae
  • What to expect: Doctors use imaging machines to guide them as they inject low-viscosity cement into collapsed vertebrae. Some doctors use Kyphon Balloon Kyphoplasty to reshape shattered vertebrae before adding the cement.

Interventional Pain Management Using Pain-Relief Injections

BOTOX® Injection

  • What it treats: Migraine headaches
  • How it works: By blocking certain chemical reactions within your nerve endings to make migraines less intense and less frequent
  • What to expect: Injections into the muscles of the head, shoulders, and neck as needed

Caudal Steroid Injection

  • What it treats: Chronic lower back and lower extremity pain
  • How it works: By reducing inflammation and irritation to ease pain and lessen muscle spasms
  • What to expect: Injections into the epidural space (the space around your spinal cord) in the lower back

Celiac Plexus Block

  • What it treats: Abdominal pain
  • How it works: By blocking pain signals traveling from the abdomen to the brain
  • What to expect: Injections into or near the nerves surrounding your main abdominal artery

Cervical Epidural Steroid Injection

  • What it treats: Head, neck, and shoulder pain from compressed nerves
  • How it works: By reducing inflammation and providing anesthetic to reduce swelling and pain
  • What to expect: Injections near the spinal nerves, herniated discs, or areas of spinal stenosis that are causing pain

Facet Joint Injection

  • What it treats: Facet joint pain
  • How it works: By numbing pain and reducing inflammation
  • What to expect: Injections near the facet joint

Fascia Iliaca Block

  • What it treats: Pain from the hip, thigh, or knee, usually following surgery
  • How it works: By blocking pain signals to the brain
  • What to expect: Injections into the membrane surrounding the nerve, which allows good coverage without a deep injection

Greater Occipital Nerve Block

  • What it treats: Pain from a compressed occipital nerve, which is usually one-sided pain on the back of the head
  • How it works: By reducing inflammation and numbing pain
  • What to expect: Injection near the greater occipital nerve, which is located on the back of the head

Intracapsular (Glenoid) Injection

  • What it treats: Shoulder pain
  • How it works: By easing inflammation and providing anesthetic medication for pain relief
  • What to expect: Injection near the shoulder joint

Joint Fluid Therapy

  • What it treats: Knee osteoarthritis pain and stiffness
  • How it works: By improving knee joint lubrication, which protects the arthritic knee joint
  • What to expect: Injections into the sore knee joint

Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injection

  • What it treats: Low back and radiating leg pain (sciatica)
  • How it works: By reducing inflammation, swelling, and nerve pain
  • What to expect: Epidural injection in the lower back

Lumbar Transforaminal Steroid Injection

  • What it treats: Relief from foraminal stenosis, which is a narrowing of the passages surrounding the spinal nerves, along with spinal stenosis and sciatica
  • How it works: By reducing inflammation and swelling to alleviate pressure on the spinal nerves
  • What to expect: Injections in the lower back

Sacroiliac Joint Steroid Injection

  • What it treats: Inflammation and pain in the sacroiliac joints, particularly from arthritis
  • How it works: By reducing inflammation, swelling, and pain
  • What to expect: Injections near where your spine and pelvis meet

Sympathetic Nerve Block

  • What it treats: Pain from complex regional pain syndrome and shingles
  • How it works: By blocking pain signals from the sympathetic nerves so that they don’t reach the brain
  • What to expect: Injections in the neck or lower back, depending on the location of the pain

Comprehensive Pain Management: The Highest Standard of Care

Interventional pain treatment is the next step when simple physical therapy and medication are not working. It uses the least invasive methods possible to generate the greatest amount of pain relief. Our interventional pain management procedures are designed to cause as little discomfort as possible while helping you take control of pain.

Pain management isn’t just about the type of treatment you receive; it’s about where you receive your treatment. The Heilman Center for Pain and Spine Care is based in a hospital, so we’re subject to higher standards of review than most doctors’ offices. You can feel confident that if an emergency arises, you have the full resources of the hospital at your disposal.

Also, our staff specializes in pain management; it’s our sole purpose. We recruit only highly trained pain management specialists for our clinic, and we subject them to regular credential reviews, peer reviews, and monitoring for quality of care.

You deserve the highest standard of care. The experienced pain team at the Heilman Center takes pride in delivering the best possible experience. Contact the Heilman Center today at 734-796-7555 to learn more or schedule an appointment.