Interventional Pain Management Specialist

What is interventional pain management?

Interventional pain management helps relieve chronic, debilitating pain with a variety of different techniques. If other therapies aren’t working, Dr. Navarkal may recommend an interventional approach to pain management as part of your comprehensive treatment plan.

What are common interventional pain management techniques?

There are too many different types of interventional pain management procedures to describe all of them here, with more advanced strategies being developed all the time. Depending on your specific condition, Dr. Navarkal may use one of the following techniques along with other therapies to help you cope with chronic pain:

Nerve Block Injections

Nerve block injections offer temporary pain relief by sending powerful medicines onto or close to your nerves. An epidural steroid injection is one of the most common nerve block injections that may work at various levels of your spinal column.

Radiofrequency Neurotomy

Also called radiofrequency ablation, this type of injection creates a heat lesion on certain nerves. Radiofrequency neurotomy eliminates pain by blocking pain nerve signals.

Pain Pumps

Intrathecal pump implants, or pain pumps, deliver potent medicines, such as morphine, directly to the source of your pain. These medicines interrupt pain signals to your brain. Since pump implants are a more invasive procedure than injections, Dr. Navarkal only uses them as a final option when others have failed.

Nerve Stimulation

Similar to a pain pump, nerve stimulation requires an implant in your body. Instead of sending medication, this procedure uses electrical stimulation to treat pain. Electrical stimulation is effective at reducing many types of pain by blocking pain signals at various points on the pain signal pathway.

What conditions respond to interventional pain management?

Dr. Navarkal uses interventional pain management as part of a multidisciplinary approach to treating the following conditions:

• Chronic low back pain
• Chronic neck pain
• Pain following surgical procedures
• Chronic headaches, mouth pain, or face pain
• Muscle or bone pain
• Joint pain
• Neuropathic Pain
• CRPS/RSD

How do I know if interventional pain management is right for me?

Chronic pain is difficult to treat, and finding a management plan that works to relieve your specific pain can seem perplexing. If you feel like you’ve already tried everything, don’t lose hope. Dr. Navarkal works with you to discover the right combination of therapies to help ease or eliminate your pain.

The best way to discover how interventional pain management can help you is to schedule an appointment with Dr. Navarkal. Call Rocky Mountain Spine & Sports Medicine or book online today.

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