Oral medication
At Water's Edge we use a variety of oral medications, including both narcotic and non-narcotic medications to treat chronic pain. However, sometimes routine oral medications can cause side effects, such as upset stomach or inability to focus, and can result in additional problems for patients. Our goal is to identify a multi-faceted approach to reducing pain. This may include oral medications used in conjunction with procedures or rehabilitation to reduce the dosage and frequency of prescribed oral medications.
Injected medications
Some medications can be injected near or into the spine, muscles, joints and soft tissues. Injections allow the medications to enter target areas more quickly, and often with fewer side effects than oral medications.
Some injection therapies include:
- Local anesthetics and corticosteroids injected between vertebrae into the space around the spinal cord to treat neck, shoulder, arm, leg, and back pain.
- Local anesthetics and steroids injected into facet joints between vertebrae to treat neck and back pain due to spinal injuries.
- Local anesthetics and steroids injected into the sacroiliac joint connecting the bottom of the spine with the pelvis for low-back and buttock pain.
- Local anesthetic injected to block the sympathetic nerves along the spine to reset the cycle of devastating arm and leg nerve pain.
- Medicine injections into various large and small joints can improve the discomfort caused by arthritis
- Trigger-point medication injections can be performed to treat muscle and soft tissue pain.
- For inoperable cancer or back pain, Water's Edge can implant pain pumps to put painkillers and anti-spasm products directly into the spinal fluid.
Medication injections can be used for treatment as well as diagnostic purposes. For instance, if a local anesthetic injected into a facet joint causes an immediate cessation of pain, then doctors can more accurately diagnose the source of a patient's pain.
In order to maximize patient safety and compliance, our physicians monitors medication use with urine/blood screens, patient/provider contracts, pharmacy checks, pill counts and other measures. Patients must take medications only as prescribed or seek help from another provider.
Our goal is to find a holistic approach to managing pain that reduces the need for regimented medications.