Pain Management
The Sturdy Health Pain Clinic at Sturdy Memorial Hospital provides patients with a variety of options to minimize, manage, and control pain. Our mission is to help patients of all ages manage chronic pain and improve their quality of life. Common conditions include:
- Lower-back pain
- Neck pain
- Headache
- Postherpetic neuralgia (shingles)
- Reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD)
What is Pain Management?
Chronic pain is a complex medical problem that can affect all areas of your life. The purpose of pain management is to help minimize your pain, and return you to your highest possible level of function and quality of life. The Sturdy Health Pain Clinic at Sturdy Memorial Hospital offers various treatments for a wide range of pain sufferers. If you live with chronic pain, you might benefit from our services. Discuss pain management options with your primary care physician.
Sturdy Health Pain Clinic at Sturdy Memorial Hospital
Our experienced team understands the unique needs of patients with pain. The Pain Clinic staff works in collaboration with each patient's primary care physician to develop individualized pain management and treatment plans. We also work with your physical therapy team when appropriate. Services provided range from helping a patient's primary care physician manage his/her pain regimen to administering anesthetics or other treatments. All treatment is performed under an anesthesiologist's direction, with skilled nurses and aides rounding out the Pain Clinic care team.
The Sturdy Health Pain Clinic features the latest in both medical equipment and comfortable amenities.
Common Problems
The Sturdy Health Pain Clinic sees a wide range of chronic pain patients. The following are the most common reasons patients seek treatment:
- Back pain
- Neck pain
- Muscle pain (myalgia)
- Nerve pain
- Leg pain
- Arm pain
- Headaches
- Postherpetic neuralgia (shingles)
- Fibromyalgia
- Osteoarthritis
- Trigeminal neuralgia
Treatments
The Sturdy Health Pain Clinic at Sturdy Memorial Hospital offers procedural-based and collaborative services. That means we offer unique outpatient pain management therapies, and work cooperatively with your primary care physician and other support staff to address your specific medication and rehabilitation issues.
Injection Treatments
Local anesthetics, with or without cortisone-like medicines, can be injected in or around nerves or into joints. These may act to reduce swelling, irritation, muscle spasms or abnormal nerve transmission that can cause pain.
Electrical Stimulation
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is the most common form of electrical stimulation. It is not painful, and does not require needles. During TENS, a small battery-operated device is used to stimulate nerve fibers through the skin to reduce pain.
Surgical Intervention
Sturdy Health Pain Clinic offers a wide range of outpatient surgical procedures to treat various conditions.
Botox
Botox isn’t just for wrinkles. At Sturdy Health Pain Clinic, we use Botox injections to treat headaches and torticollis (stiff neck).
Pain Management Care Team
Chronic pain is a complex medical condition that can have emotional, psychological and social consequences. The Sturdy Health Pain Clinic’s pain management experts are connected to a network of pain psychologists, pain therapists, and other specialists who can help you cope.
Primary Care Providers
We work with your own physician to tailor the type, dosage and frequency of your medication. This reduces confusion and prevents medication conflicts, while keeping your whole care team on the same page.
Physical Therapists
Some patients benefit from various forms of physical therapy. In many cases, increasing core strength can reduce strain on the back and other sore muscles. Learning better body mechanics can lessen your chance of aggravating certain conditions. For those with limited mobility or intense pain, our physical therapy department offers aquatherapy, a very low-impact method of stretching and strengthening muscle.
Specialists
If your pain results from a chronic medical condition, such as multiple sclerosis, you may be referred to a specialist in that area for additional consultation and support.
