Do you have chronic back pain that has not responded well to pain relievers, chiropractic care, and other non-invasive treatment measures? If so, it might be time to make an appointment at a pain management center. Contrary to what people sometimes assume, pain management centers generally do a lot more than just prescribe medications. They also tend to offer a variety of procedures that can result in long-lasting pain relief. Here are a few such treatments to discuss with a physician.

Nerve Blocks

A nerve block is basically when your physician injects a local anesthetic medication into a nerve. When you're dealing with back pain, the nerve they inject will generally be near your spine. This medication essentially "deactivates" that nerve for a time. One injection may give you a few weeks to a few months of relief. While you will need to rest for a little while after the injection, there is no serious downtime required after a nerve block. Patients are often comfortable going back to work or school later in the same day, and they find that they no longer need to take pain relievers to stay comfortable.

The downside to nerve blocks is that they need to be repeated every few weeks. The injections can be painful initially, so some people do not like committing to them so often. Also, if you have a blood clotting disorder, you may not be a candidate.

Radiofrequency Ablation

Another means of managing long-term back pain is through radiofrequency ablation. This is a procedure in which radio waves are used to destroy the nerve endings that are sending pain signals to your brain. In the case of back pain, the nerve endings that are destroyed are usually in the musculature surrounding the spine. 

Radiofrequency ablation is usually done with a thin needle, which can be guided via ultrasound toward the nerve endings in question. This is usually done under local anesthesia so you won't feel much during the ablation itself. The resulting pain relief is not permanent, but it does last several years. 

The downside to radiofrequency ablation is that it does come with some risk of tissue damage and infection. Sometimes, the nerve endings are not effectively destroyed and you don't get the relief you're after.

If you're struggling with long-term back pain and do not want to rely so heavily on pain relievers, talk to your doctor about these longer-lasting pain management options. 

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