Pain Management Procedures in Blue Springs, Missouri
If you are in pain, there is no need to suffer a moment longer. At Core Medical Center in Blue Springs, Missouri, we offer many treatment options that not only provide pain relief but also address the root cause of your pain. With our interventional pain-relieving procedures, we will have you moving again in no time – without pain!
Conditions We Treat
We can treat any joint in the body, in addition to most cases of pain or inflammation located throughout the body, from your head to your toes.
- Arthritis
- Back and neck pain
- Elbow pain
- Foot pain
- Headaches & migraines
- Hip pain
- Joint pain
- Knee pain
- Repetitive strain
- Rotator cuff injuries
- Shoulder pain
- Strains and sprains
- Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder
- Tendonitis
- Trauma
Your Pain-Relieving Therapy Options
We offer a wide array of interventional pain procedures. Many of these are administered in the form of an injection, using state-of-the-art injection guidance equipment.
Our accuracy and precision ensures perfect placement and reduces the likelihood of pain during the procedure. Core Medical Center is one of the few outpatient offices in the Kansas City metro area that has two C-arms used for X-ray guidance of injections and also uses ultrasound guidance for soft tissue injections. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, injections done without real-time imaging guidance miss 25% of the time. Having treated tens of thousands of patients with spine, joint, and soft tissue injections, we encourage our patients to avoid having injection procedures where a “blind stick” methodology is employed. When an injection is made using simple palpation (touch) and no imaging guidance, you run the risk of ineffective placement and increased pain.
Determining where an injection is made, how it is performed, and what is injected depends on several factors. For example, knee pain due to degenerative arthritis can be successfully alleviated with a viscosupplementation injection directly into the knee joint. To help a damaged tendon repair itself faster and more completely, a PRP injection may be administered into the target tendon itself.
Specific types of pain-relieving therapies we offer at Core Medical Center include:
Epidurals
An epidural steroid injection is a procedure that injects a local anesthetic and a steroid medication directly into the epidural space that surrounds the spinal cord and nerve roots.
This treatment is commonly used for space-occupying lesions, such as herniated discs, disc bulges, spinal stenosis, inflamed ligaments, and osteoarthritis. By using a strong anti-inflammatory medication, such as a steroid, and directly introducing it into the site of injury, the medication can reduce inflammation, which reduces the size of the space-occupying lesion, providing relief for nerve compression.
Symptoms that can be alleviated by an epidural steroid injection are sciatica, shooting pain in the arms or legs, and numbness or tingling in the arms and legs.
Proper diagnostic evaluation needs to occur before an epidural steroid injection is performed. Usually, this consists of a thorough physical exam, following by an MRI.
When an epidural is performed in tandem with physical therapy, bracing, and chiropractic services, patients enjoy unparalleled results. Combining therapies can be so much more successful than traditional treatment that consists of merely providing 3 to 6 epidurals a year for life — which fails to address the underlying functional issue, so only offers short-term pain relief.
Facet Injections
This pain-relieving therapy involves an injection of medication, such as a local anesthetic, corticosteroids, or alternative medicine product, depending on your condition and the intended outcome of the procedure. The injection is delivered using advanced imaging guidance at the facet joints or the medial branch nerve, which are the points of connections between the vertebra of the spine and make up the nerves that are often inflamed and causing the pain you are experiencing.
Nerve Blocks
If your pain is due to a group of nerves, the activity of those nerves can be blocked with an injection of anesthesia, steroids, or other medication at or near the nerves in question. How long the nerve block lasts depends on the medication used. Nerve blocks may be used to relieve pain in the upper extremities (shoulder, arm, elbow, hand), lower extremities (hip, leg, knee, foot), and elsewhere in the body.
Examples of nerve blocks we provide include those designed to treat or address pain associated with:
- Peripheral nerves
- Sciatica
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Cubital tunnel syndrome
- Tarsal tunnel syndrome
- Headaches and head or neck pain (including a sphenopalatine ganglion nerve block (SPGNB), occipital nerve block, trigeminal (pterygopalatine) branch nerve block)
- Knee pain
- Post-knee-replacement pain
Radiofrequency Ablation
This minimally invasive procedure uses a special needle to deliver an electric current that can destroy the nerve endings causing you pain. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) can provide long-lasting relief, up to a year or longer.
Examples of RFA we perform include those designed to treat or address pain associated with:
- Peripheral nerves
- Sciatica
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Cubital tunnel syndrome
- Tarsal tunnel syndrome
- Headaches and head or neck pain (including a sphenopalatine ganglion nerve block (SPGNB), occipital nerve block, trigeminal (pterygopalatine) branch nerve block)
- Knee pain
- Post-knee-replacement pain
Alternative Medicine (PRP therapy)
Non-surgical alternative and innovative medicine describes an approach that uses what is naturally present in the body to boost healing in targeted area. The alternative medicine treatment we offer Core Medical Center patients is:
- Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy. A sample of your own blood is spun in a centrifuge to concentrate the amount of growth-factor rich platelets, which is then reinjected at the site of injury.
PRP therapy can treat pain and in some cases regenerate tissue. It is superior to cortisone or other medications that simply mask the issue. Alternative medicine biologics can be used to treat tendonitis, bursitis, trigger points, joint pain cause by osteoarthritis or inflammation due to other causes, neck and mid-back pain, meniscus tears, labrum tears at the hips or shoulders, and minor to moderate muscle or ligament tears.
Tendon Sheath and Bursa Injections
These injections meant to treat tendonitis and bursitis, and are done in conjunction with a physical medicine program as tendonitis and bursitis are typically caused by a functional issue in the area of complaint. These injections can address back pain, as well as pain at the knees, hips, shoulders, elbows (e.g., tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow), wrists, ankles, and feet (in the case of plantar fasciitis). Bursitis commonly occurs at the knees, hips, shoulders, and elbows.
Trigger Point Therapy
Muscle pain can be relieved by locating and treating trigger points, which are sensitive areas or small knots that form in the myofascia that covers muscle tissue. These knotted muscles, or trigger points, typically develop due to repetitive strain or as a result of loss of proper function in bones and associated joints. This can cause a great deal of pain – in other areas of the body, as well.
Trigger points can manifest as lower back pain, shoulder pain, stiffness between the shoulder blades, neck pain, and may effect function in these areas that can result in further complications. Additional consequences of trigger points are a decreased range of motion in your legs, temporomandibular (jawbone) joint pain, and tension headaches.
The most effective method for treating trigger points is with trigger point therapy. Our providers strategically select injection targets specific to your area of injury. This allows the muscle tissue to relax, gradually loosen, and strengthen. You should feel immediate relief upon receiving your first injection.
Viscosupplementation for Osteoarthritis
If you have pain caused by osteoarthritis, you probably already know there is no cure for it. Perhaps you have been told you are experiencing bone-on-bone pain and a joint replacement surgery is your only option – but that is not necessarily so! Viscosupplementation can relieve knee, hip, or shoulder pain caused by degenerative arthritis and restore pain-free movement. Find out more about our nonsurgical program to treat osteoarthritis of the knee.
Complementary Treatments
Your Core Medical Center provider may use a combination of approaches to alleviate your pain. Any of the above interventional pain procedures may be accompanied by:
- Physical Therapy
- Chiropractic Services
- Alternative medicine
- Advanced support or posture-correcting bracing
It is our goal to comprehensively treat your condition, so we address the root cause of your symptoms to prevent it from recurring.
Interventional Pain in Blue Springs, MO
Ready to get moving again – without pain? Call Core Medical Center in Blue Springs, Missouri, at (816) 427-0201 to find out more about our interventional pain procedures and how we can help, without having to resort to surgery or drugs. You can also request an appointment now.
