Chronic pain can affect your quality of life. Pain is considered to be chronic when it lasts longer than 3 months without any indication of improvement. Chronic pain can compromise your mobility, flexibility, and strength, affecting your day-to-day activities which can also lead to mental health issues.
Chronic pain can result from an injury or an underlying condition. The first step in treating chronic pain is identifying the root cause of the pain. Your physician will perform a thorough history, and physical exam and order imaging studies to help determine the pain source.
There are many conventional treatments for chronic pain, but many treatments just mask the symptoms, and surgery may be too invasive or unnecessary. Fortunately, there are minimally invasive treatment options for chronic pain.
Minimally invasive procedures for chronic pain management are less invasive than surgery, hence less pain and recovery time. The goal of these procedures is:
- To help stimulate healing of the underlying injury.
- To reduce the pain symptoms.
- To help the patient return to an active lifestyle and improve quality of life.
Available Minimally Invasive Procedures:
Prolotherapy
This procedure involves injecting dextrose solution to injured areas to stimulate the body to heal. It works by creating a mild inflammatory response, which helps to initiate the healing and strengthening of injured ligaments and tendons.
Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injections
Platelets are tiny cells in your blood that contain growth factors that are critical to healing. PRP is a concentrated sample of your own blood containing a high number of platelets. PRP can be injected to injured areas of your body to promote tissue regeneration, decrease inflammation, and encourage new blood vessel formation.
Bone marrow or Adipose (fat) derived cell therapy
Your bone marrow and adipose (fat) are a rich sources of mesenchymal cells, growth factors, and other cells that have tremendous potential for healing and restoring injured tissues. Through a simple outpatient procedure, your bone marrow or fat can be harvested, processed, and re-injected to injured areas of your body on the same day to stimulate healing and repair.
Final Thought
Chronic pain can affect your general well-being, but it doesn’t have to remain that way. Please fill out the form below and visit our website to learn about alternative ways to manage chronic pain.