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Nearly half of working Americans have back pain each year, and for many, symptoms can persist or become chronic. With its painful and often debilitating symptoms, it’s no surprise that back pain causes 264 million lost days of work each year — or two days for every full-time employee.
Fortunately, there are drug-free solutions when it comes to getting your back pain under control. Our team at Elite Pain Management and Recovery Centers offers the latest medical advancements in back pain treatment, including radiofrequency ablation. Read on to see if it could be right for you.
It’s no wonder that back pain is a pervasive problem when you can experience discomfort in so many different structures in your back. For example, when you have acute pain, it usually affects your soft tissue, such as your muscles or ligaments. This type of back pain is typically localized and usually responds to rest, hot and cold compresses, and anti-inflammatory medications.
Chronic back pain, however, typically indicates a more serious problem. These symptoms often develop because of skeletal problems, osteoarthritis, or a degenerative disc disease. Unlike soft tissue injuries, which have localized symptoms, this type of back pain usually includes additional signs, such as:
If you have these types of symptoms, it’s often a sign that your nerves or nerve roots have become involved. If you don’t find relief from conservative therapies, such as prescription drugs, nerve blocks, epidural injections, or physical therapy, it could be time to try radiofrequency ablation.
Radiofrequency ablation, or RFA, is a minimally invasive treatment that eliminates your symptoms by using targeted amounts of heat to disable nerve-sending pain signals. We often recommend this treatment for neck or back pain, or arthritis pain from joint degeneration.
To perform RFA, we start by doing extensive nerve testing. This process enables us to locate the specific nerve causing your back pain. Once identified, we use X-ray guidance to insert a needle as close to the nerve as possible. The last step involves delivering heat through the needle to the nerve, which disables the nerve sending the pain signals.
When you have radiofrequency ablation, we give you medication and topical anesthetic to keep you comfortable throughout the entire process. This treatment typically takes anywhere from 30-90 minutes, and you can go home the same day. You may experience mild pain or numbness in the treatment site, but this should fade quickly.
Radiofrequency ablation comes with a proven track record for providing safe and effective pain relief. Its primary side effects include minimal discomfort, swelling, and bruising for a few days. More than 70% of men and women report successful pain relief after RFA treatment.
Other benefits from radiofrequency ablation include:
Radiofrequency ablation can provide pain relief within 1-3 weeks and last from six months to several years.
To see if radiofrequency ablation is the answer for your back pain, book an appointment over the phone with Elite Pain Management and Recovery Centers today.
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