Table of Contents
Introduction v
1 A Brief History of Pain Medicine 1
2 Not All Pain Physicians Are the Same: 5
Choosing the Right Physician for Your Problem 6
3 What to Expect from Interventional Pain Management 11
4 Anatomy: An Explanation of the Parts of You That You Can't See in the Mirror 15
5 Diagnostic Testing: 19
Radiology: A Look Inside the Body 20
Electrodiaynostic Medicine: More Tests to Complete the Picture 23
6 Comprehensive Pain Therapy: Other Pieces of the Puzzle 25
7 Medications: So Much More than Just Pain Pills 29
8 Trigger Point Injections: Treating Tight and Restricted Muscles 43
9 Peripheral Nerve Blocks: Injections in Other Places and Spaces 47
10 Epidural Injections: Not Just for Childbirth 53
11 Facet Injections: Treating Arthritis of the Spine 61
12 Sacroiliac Injections: Another Common Cause of Back Pain 67
13 Radiofrequency Ablation and Cryoneuroablation: Making the Pain Stay Away 69
14 Adhesiolysis: Washing Away the Scar Tissue 71
15 Regenerative Therapy: Rebuilding the Body's Normal Tissue 75
16 Discography: A Better Look at Your Discs 79
17 Minimally Invasive Disc Surgery: When Less Is More 83
18 Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: One Small Nerve Causing Big Problems 89
19 Post-Herpetic Neuralgia (PHN): Early Treatment Is the Key to Success 95
20 Implantable Techniques 99
Spinal Cord Stimulation 99
Spinal Drug Delivery Systems 102
Peripheral Nerve/Field Stimulation 106
21 Cancer Pain: Effective Control Is Usually Possible 109
22 Insurance: Copays, Coinsurance, Deductibles, Oh My! 115
23 Workers' Compensation: How It Works and What to Do If It Doesn't 121
24 Conclusion 125
Glossary 126
Online Resources 143