Many Americans suffer from arthritis pain every year. If you’ve ever had to take a leave from work, change or cancel some activities, or have struggled to find relief for your arthritis symptoms, you’re not the only one. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that more than 50 million Americans are living with some form of arthritis. At least 50 percent of them report experiencing severe and debilitating joint pain as a result.
However, even minor arthritis-related stiffness and joint pain can damage your quality of life, so you shouldn’t neglect or live with the pain as normal after you’ve been diagnosed with arthritis.
At Specialty Care Clinics, our team of doctors and pain management specialists offers a range of pain management plans and therapeutic treatments at nine locations in Texas.
Many patients do not know that nerve blocks can help with joint arthritis pain and post-joint replacement pain. The most commonly treated joints are the knee (knee joint nerve) and the shoulder. Blocking these nerves offers great opportunities for short-term and long-term pain relief.
According to research, genicular nerve block injections appear to provide temporary pain relief for persons with osteoarthritis of the knee. Eight weeks following the procedure, they said, patients who had the injections reported considerable pain relief.
HOW CAN NERVE BLOCKS HELP TO CONTROL ARTHRITIS PAIN?
There are more than 100 types of arthritis, the very common of which is osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is caused due to joint deterioration from an injury or wear-and-tear on the joints over time. It is more commonly found in older people, but younger adults can from it as well.
There are numerous treatments and pain management options for arthritis, that depend on the severity of the pain and extent of joint damage, as well as your individual conditions and other health and lifestyle factors.
Nerve blocks can give temporary relief from back and joint pain by blocking the pain signals between the brain and the affected nerves. The treatments include an injection that has a numbing agent such as lidocaine to block the pain. It is usually combined with a corticosteroid to aid in managing swelling and inflammation in the joint.
Our pain management specialists at Specialty Care Clinics use imaging tests to help locate and diagnose the source and location of your pain and then determine the right medication for your condition and pain levels.
There is no one size fits all approach for managing arthritis pain, and most people try a combination of therapies and lifestyle changes to get relief.
Nerve blocks may work as a stand-alone treatment or help to manage your pain so you can become active or participate in other forms of therapy with minimal pain.
Don’t live with arthritis pain on your own. The first step is reaching out to our team of professionals to get help.
For more details about nerve blocks and other pain management therapies and treatments, contact us at Specialty Care Clinics to schedule an appointment at one of our clinics in Texas call (469) 545-9983.