Airing Pain 63: Interventional Pain Management

From nerve-blocks to spinal cord stimulators: how interventional approaches can help

For a full transcript of this programme please click here.

This edition has been funded by Pfizer.

Physiotherapy, exercise, medications and clinical psychology all play an important role in pain management, but what happens if these treatments don’t give people the relief they need to get their lives back on track?

For some patients, more invasive treatments can make a big difference, but there are often difficult decisions to be faced, as Paul Evans discovers from sitting in on one of specialist in interventional pain management Dr Ron Cooper’s clinics in Causeway Hospital, Coleraine.

We hear from patients who have often waited years before being referred to the clinic where they will be considered for interventional treatments such as spinal cord stimulation, nerve-blocking injections and radio frequency treatment. Dr Cooper explains why interventional treatments are more appropriate for some patients than for others, how they are thought to work and why it’s important to see them as part of a broader pain management strategy.

Issues covered in this programme include: Nerve blocking, spinal cord stimulators, medical intervention, invasive treatment, radio frequency treatment, neuropathic pain, risk, side effects, operation, surgery, hernia, burning pain, back pain, complex regional pain syndrome, pelvic pain, nerve pain, physiotherapy, medication, multidisciplinary approach and scoliosis.

Contributors:

• Dr Ron Cooper, Consultant in Anaesthesia & Pain Relief, Causeway Hospital, Coleraine.