Twenty percent of U.S. adults suffer from chronic pain, according to a recent study analyzing National Health Interview Survey data.
Chronic pain is often defined as pain lasting more than 12 weeks. However, it can last even longer. Chronic pain can stem from a variety of factors, including injury or illness. However, there is no clear cut cause of chronic pain.
Here at our Northshore chronic pain clinic in Covington, LA, we’ve seen how chronic pain can all but eliminate one’s quality of life — physically and emotionally. Chronic pain can reduce flexibility, strength, and stamina. This makes it difficult for sufferers to carry out vital tasks like brushing their teeth or putting on their socks. And it limits them from partaking in enjoyable activities, like swimming and walking. As a result, many chronic pain patients suffer from signs of depression.
Diagnosis
Many of the patients who come to our Covington, LA clinic are frustrated because they feel no one believes — or understands their pain.
This is common throughout chronic pain sufferers. Pain is a personal and subjective experience. There, unfortunately, is no one test that can locate and gauge pain with pure accuracy.
That is why we work closely with our patients to understand the type, timing, and location of pain. Your description of your pain helps us craft your pain history — which we use to recommend ideal treatments. There are technologies we use — in our clinic — to help cement our diagnosis. Specific treatments, like diagnostic blocks, can help us identify the location of your pain and decide your next best course of action for long-term relief. However, we wholly believe that the best chronic pain treatment plan is tailored to the individual.
That is why we invest our team’s full resources to working with each and every patient to develop their chronic pain treatment plan.
Chronic pain treatment options in Louisiana’s Northshore
Our singular goal with our patients is to improve quality of life. We do this by finding effective ways to reduce pain and improve function. We strive to help you manage your chronic pain with a treatment plan that does not diminish your quality of life.
Fortunately, our Northshore clinic has the staff and technology to provide a wide array of treatment options. Not only that, but we work with each patient to address all sides of the pain – physical, mental, and emotional.
Some of the treatment options we have available at our chronic pain clinic include:
- Implanted nerve stimulators — a device that uses electrical impulses to block pain from being recognized in the brain.
- Intrathecal pain therapy — Delivers small doses of analgesic directly into the cerebrospinal fluid to the pain receptors in the spinal cord, blocking the message to the brain.
- Epidural steroid injection — An injection that places anti-inflammatory medicine into the epidural space to decrease inflammation of the nerve roots, to reduce pain.
- Nerve blocks and radiofrequency — Nerve blocks are used to help predict how your pain may respond to long-term treatments. A radiofrequency signal applied to the nerve can produce relief over a more sustained period.
- Joint injections — Serve as both diagnostic and therapeutic. These injunctions contain a numbing medicine that helps us identify if a specific joint is the source of your pain. They also contain an anti-inflammatory (cortisone/steroid) that reduces any inflammation that may exist within the joint(s).
- Minimally invasive spinal stenosis treatment – A device placed between the spinous processes and away from the spinal cord and nerve roots. This avoids an open surgical procedure and takes 15-30 minutes outpatient.
As mentioned earlier, chronic pain is personal and subjective. As a result, treatment is hardly ever one-size-fits-all. That’s why we take time to understand your pain history — so that we can craft the most effective treatment plan for you.
Learn more by scheduling a consultation with our Northshore pain specialists, located right here in Covington, LA.