Interventional Pain Medicine – Virgin Islands

Diagnosis of Pain

Your interventional pain management specialist may use various techniques to get an accurate diagnosis of your pain. These may include physical examinations, imaging tests, and considering your medical history.

You may be asked to describe the level of your pain from 1-10 and the type of pain you feel (dull, sharp, shooting or throbbing, etc.)

Once an accurate diagnosis is achieved, your specialist can provide you with the most effective treatment options.

Treatment Options for Pain Management

Our interventional pain management specialists offer a variety of treatment options that can help relieve or manage your pain. Listed below are some of the treatments that our specialists may recommend.

• Therapeutic exercise: Tailored physical activities and movements can help restore function and flexibility, improve strength, and decrease pain.
• Orthotics: An external device can be used to alter the structural and functional characteristics of the neuromuscular and skeletal systems.
• Pain medications: With careful management of pain medications, we can provide just the right relief.
• Joint injections: A corticosteroid injection can be injected directly into a joint, such as the knee, hip, ankle, shoulder, elbow, or hand joint. The injection can give you temporary pain relief, allowing you to return to work and perform your normal daily activities and physical therapy.
• Epidural injections: This is a corticosteroid injection in the fatty area that protects your spinal nerves. These injections may relieve pain for up to a year, allowing you to resume doing things you do daily.
• Facet joint injection: We can also use a corticosteroid injection and numbing medicines to treat a painful facet joint in the back or neck. The injection can relieve pain and inflammation. It can also help identify which facet joint is causing pain.
• Sacroiliac (SI) joint injection: The sacroiliac joint is found between the lower back and buttocks. This corticosteroid injection is used to relieve pain and can indicate whether the pain originates from this joint or another area.
• Spasticity management: We may use botulinum toxin or phenol injections to help manage spasticity.
• Nerve blocks: A nerve block is more of a diagnostic method of determining which nerve or joint is causing pain. After our doctor injects a local anesthetic on or near a pain receptor, you will be asked to record your pain relief over the next couple of hours. If the nerve block worked, you might be recommended for radiofrequency ablation.
• Radiofrequency ablation (rhizotomy): This treatment involves using a radiofrequency current to burn the sensory nerves surrounding a painful joint. The nerve will then lose its ability to pass pain signals to the brain. The treatment can last between 6 months and 2 years. It is a very effective treatment that allows you to return to your normal daily activities.
• Spinal cord stimulator trial: Your doctor will see whether electrical signals can override pain signals in your spine. If it proves successful, they can implant an electrical device near your spine, similar to a pacemaker, so that the electrical signals can continue permanently.