Millions of people struggle with the unwelcome effects of sciatica. Burning, shooting pain in your lower back, leg, hips, and rear hinder movement and activity. Numbness, tingling, and weakness in these areas limit mobility, and it’s difficult if not impossible to find a comfortable position.
Sufferers often try all manner of medical intervention, just to get a little relief. But extreme options, like opioids and surgery, have undesirable risks. Other common options – such as chiropractic manipulations or physical therapy – yield incomplete results.
Sciatica has a variety of causes and contributing pain factors. Therefore, it requires a holistic approach for better patient outcomes. Interventional pain management is a safe and effective way to treat sciatica and a promising innovation in pain management.
How Interventional Pain Management Tackles Sciatica: 3 Approaches for Better Results
Interventional pain management embraces a variety of non-invasive and minimally invasive techniques to help reduce, manage, and eliminate pain. This medical discipline requires a team of healthcare professionals with a wide range of skills, experience, and specialties. That may include nurses, internists, occupational therapists, physiatrists, physical therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and anesthesiologists. IPM can help people with chronic pain manage their condition more effectively and enhance their enjoyment of life.
The following 3 treatment options are part of an interventional pain management approach to sciatica treatment that can deliver noticeable, welcome pain relief.
Injection Therapies
Lower back steroid injections minimize inflammation, which relieves pain and improves mobility for some types of sciatic pain. Determining the injection points – lumbar, cervical, epidural – for optimal effects is essential. This is one of the many areas where the MAPS medical team shines. Our dedicated patient-centric healthcare providers are uniquely qualified in a full range of pain management interventions.
Lumbar sympathetic blocks and interscalene or intercostal blocks are also useful therapies. These injections of local anesthesia can provide some temporary relief for severe sciatic pain.
Medical Technology Tools
Minimally invasive procedures, like radiofrequency ablation and spinal cord stimulation use low-voltage electric currents to disrupt pain signals. Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty can stabilize compression fractures that lead to sciatic symptoms. Another technique, disc decompression, stretches out the spine, opening up disc space, and strengthening the back.
Physical Therapy
Physical therapy is a staple in most sciatica treatment plans. But on its own, PT may not yield the results you’re seeking, or your pain makes it too difficult to participate. However, when combined with other treatment protocols, pain relief is more attainable. Injections or a minimally invasive procedure like SCS can provide enough pain relief to allow you to perform PT maneuvers. The stretches and exercises help with flexibility, core strength, posture, nerve pressure, and several other factors that contribute to sciatic symptoms.
At MAPS, we understand how unbearable it is to live with pain and discomfort, day in and day out. Our focus is helping our patients get life-changing pain relief with safe and effective interventional pain management methods. Our double-board certified physicians and dedicated medical team are experienced in helping patients with sciatica. Let us help you, too. Schedule an appointment to assess your condition and learn how we can best manage your sciatica symptoms.
