5 Telltale Symptoms of a Herniated Disc
When you damage the cushion between your backbones, you can call it a slipped, ruptured, bulging, or herniated disc. The question is: How do you know if it’s happened to you? Here are some signs.
Do I Qualify for a Pain Pump?
Chronic pain has become an epidemic. Over 20% of the adult population in the United States say they have daily pain — that’s 50.2 million people! In fact, pain is so prevalent, it gets its own medical specialty where physicians and researchers focus solely on the causes of and treatments for intractable pain.
At Regency Pain & Therapy in Mansfield, Texas, our team of experts combines the best practices of the pain management, sports medicine, neuromusculoskeletal, and osteopathic manipulative medical fields to provide cutting-edge technology and techniques. We know pain is a symptom, not a condition, so we don’t just mask it. Our passion is to determine the underlying cause of your pain and resolve it for good.
Sometimes, the underlying issue can’t be fixed, but that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with the pain. We have ways of alleviating chronic pain even when it seems all hope is lost. One such treatment is the pain pump.
To implant the pain pump, we surgically place a reservoir (about the size of a hockey puck) filled with medication into your abdomen. A catheter leads from the reservoir to your spine, delivering the medication directly into your spinal fluid and bathing your nerves in baclofen, a pain-relieving, muscle-relaxing solution.
The preprogrammed pain pump requires no action on your part and is easy to refill with an injection of fresh baclofen when it runs dry.
Although the pain pump is an excellent solution for chronic pain, it’s not for everyone or for every type of pain.
Who qualifies for a pain pump?
At Regency Pain & Therapy, we offer many conservative pain treatments, including physical therapy and regenerative medicine, to promote the natural healing of underlying conditions. We also provide injections of steroids, nerve blocks, and hyaluronic acid to ease pain and symptoms temporarily, so you can participate fully in your recovery program.
In addition, we offer more advanced treatments like spinal cord stimulation and the pain pump. Here are the conditions and circumstances that may qualify you for the pain pump.
Muscle spasticity
Muscle spasticity is uncontrollable muscle contracture. Your muscles involuntarily tighten and stiffen, causing immobility and pain. You may experience muscle spasticity after a brain or spinal cord injury or stroke or due to a central nervous system problem, such as cerebral palsy.
The pain pump delivers baclofen directly into your spinal column, relaxing the muscles and stopping the pain.
Failed back surgery syndrome
Back surgery is tricky, and it doesn’t always stop your pain. In fact, it fails often enough that it’s earned the name failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS). The pain pump is an excellent solution for FBSS.
Medication doesn’t help
Oral medication can relieve acute pain in the short term, but over time, it can lead to addiction, drug interactions, and gut problems. And since it needs to travel through your digestive tract, it takes time before you feel results. The pain pump bypasses your digestive system and provides immediate, non-addictive relief.
Conservative treatments don’t help
The pain pump is never our first recommendation. We always try conservative treatments first so you avoid the surgical implantation and long-term commitment required with a pain pump. However, if those efforts fail, the pain pump is an effective and welcome alternative.
Surgery won’t help
Surgery is often the final hope and last resort for addressing chronic pain. But if you have FBSS or an inoperable condition, surgery is no longer an option. The pain pump is.
Call us at Regency Pain & Therapy to schedule a consultation with one of our specialists and find out how we can ease your pain.
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