Anyone who suffers from pain knows that it can impact both your physical and emotional well-being. At Stormont Vail Health, our goal is to help you stop or reduce pain and find relief. We provide treatments for pain that affects the back and neck, muscles, face, and other parts of the body, as well as pain from cancer and other health conditions.
Either your primary care physician or a specialist can refer you to pain management. Our physicians will check your medical history, including allergies you may have and medications you are on. If you’re having a procedure performed, an Interventional Pain Management physician will explain it to you and update your primary care physician afterward.
Conditions We Treat
We treat pain caused by a variety of injuries, illnesses, and other health conditions, such as:
- Back Pain
- Neck Pain
- Arthritis
- Pain after Surgery
- Cancer Pain
- Facial Pain (Trigeminal Neuralgia)
- Pain from Shingles
- Postherpetic Neuralgia
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)
We also treat pain from car accidents and work injuries, muscle pain, and pain that radiates into the arms and legs.
Our Treatments & Services
Our Interventional Pain Management physicians are experts in performing injections and anesthetic blocks. They have the clinical knowledge and experience to determine which procedure is most appropriate for you.
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Epidural Steroid Injection
The medicine will be injected into the area surrounding the nerve roots and spinal cord. The injection can reduce swelling and inflammation in the nerve or tissue, relieving pain. Your legs may be numb for several hours. -
Facet Joint Injection
The multiple joints in your back are called facet joints. As you age, this area sometimes may develop arthritis. Steroid injections into the facet joints can reduce pain caused by inflammation. -
Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA)
An electrical current heats an area of nerve tissue, blocking sensation to the facet joints.The full effects of this procedure may take several weeks to be felt completely. -
Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS)
A small device placed under your skin blocks out pain signals. This procedure is particularly effective for patients with radiating neck and arm pain, or back and leg pain. -
Trigger Point Injection
Trigger points are painful knots that form when muscles are unable to relax. This treatment involves inserting a needle into the trigger point, which helps relax the muscles and relieve pain. -
Intrathecal Pain Pump
A small device implanted under the skin releases pain medication directly around the nerves in the back. This treatment is usually used for cancer pain. -
Celiac Plexus Block
This treatment helps patients struggling with pancreatic cancer pain. The first stage involves an anesthetic injection to the back to block sensation. If the result is positive, patients receive a second injection that “kills” the nerves. This can provide patients with relief for 6 or more months. -
Superior Hypogastric Block
Similar to a Celiac Plexus Block, this procedure relieves pelvic or rectal cancer pain. -
Ganglion Impar Block
This injection is used to treat pain of the perineum—the area between the anus and the vulva in females, and between the anus and the scrotum in males. -
Trigeminal Nerve Block
Your trigeminal nerve relays feeling from your face to your brain. If you have chronic pain in this area—known as trigeminal neuralgia—this procedure may provide relief using an initial mix of local anesthetic and steroid medication that is injected around the affected nerve. The physician will then decide if further injections or other treatments are needed based on the effect of the first injection. -
Blood Patch
Sometimes you may get a spinal headache after an epidural injection. To relieve this pain, blood is drawn from your arm to seal the leak in the epidural space. -
Stellate Ganglion Block
The stellate ganglion is part of the sympathetic nervous system, which regulates actions such as increasing heart rate, pupil size, and blood pressure. To relieve pain caused by the stellate ganglion, a local anesthetic is injected around it to stop the input of pain signals to the affected area. -
Lumbar Sympathetic Block
Similar to Stellate Ganglion Block, this treatment involves receiving an injection around the sympathetic nerves in the lower back. -
Intercostal Block Injection
This injection will numb the intercostal nerves ––located under the ribs, and when the medication wears off, the intercostal nerves should feel less pain. Sometimes a steroid is used with numbing medication as well. -
Occipital Nerve Block
The occipital nerves start in the back of your neck and run through to the base of your skull. Pain in these nerves—called occipital neuralgia—is a common cause of headache. During this procedure, a local anesthetic and steroid are injected in the back of the head to reduce pain.
