Pain Management and Nutritional Pain Management

An important part of managing pain while maintaining your overall health and well-being is ensuring good nutrition.

Research has shown that pain is related to the disturbance of functions within our cells. Not only does excessive body weight due to poor eating habits worsen some types of persistent pain, but a lack of essential nutrients can also lead to chronic illnesses such as arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and even depression.

Nutritional pain management in the form of a recommended and/or supervised anti-inflammatory diet can help reduce pain and promote more energy, better sleep, and enhanced mental function.

• Auricular Acupuncture. This alternative intervention involves the placement of tiny needles in the cartilage of the ears to help relieve migraine pain.
• Botox®. The popular injectable is FDA-approved to treat chronic migraines. This safe, effective treatment has brought relief to many migraine sufferers. The more often you experience migraine headaches, the more effective the Botox treatment will likely be for you.
• Dry Needling. The precise placement of tiny needles into muscle tissue of the head and neck can help bring relief from tension headaches.
• Nerve Blocks. We administer nerve blocks that can provide immediate relief for patients suffering from chronic migraine headaches or other types of pain of the face, jaw, and head. The procedure itself is minimally invasive and can be done in the office. It involves the use of a SphenoCath® – a thin, flexible tube (catheter) that delivers pain-relieving medication to the area of the sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) in the nasal passageway. The SPG is associated with one of the largest cranial nerves – the trigeminal nerve – which affects sensation and function of the face and mouth.

There are a number of nontraditional, integrative therapies available that we can use to treat pain. These include:

• Acupuncture. Traditional Chinese acupuncture involves inserting needles at various points on a patient’s body. It is believed to reduce pain by releasing endorphins, the body’s natural painkiller. Clinical studies show that acupuncture can successfully treat back pain, neck pain, migraine headaches, depression, and more.
• Massage Balls. Using specialized balls to self-massage areas of the head and neck can relieve pressure and help prevent or relieve the pain of tension headaches.
• Mindfulness Meditation. A nonpharmacological treatment for chronic pain, mindfulness meditation is a cognitive therapy technique to help patients cope with pain symptoms. Patients are guided through a series of body awareness exercises to be fully present in the moment without judgment. By some estimates, mindfulness meditation has been shown to reduce chronic pain by half in clinical trials, with some achieving a 90 percent reduction in pain. In addition, meditation appears to extend its benefits beyond just pain management, helping to lessen perils like stress and depression levels and improving quality of life.
• Yoga. The meditation and breath control involved in yoga can help ease tension in the head, neck, and elsewhere in the body. In addition, there are specific yoga postures designed to help a person get rid of headaches.
• Tai Chi. This Chinese exercise is focused on balancing the forces of yin and yang in the body. When practiced for its health benefits, tai chi has been found to help reduce inflammation, which can help reduce some types of pain.

Injections of medication – typically an anesthetic combined with a corticosteroid – to reduce pain and inflammation can be administered in various places on the body and in different strengths and manners, depending on what ails you. For example:

• Piriformis Injections. The piriformis is a muscle located in the buttocks between the lower spine and upper thighbone. It powers the rotation of the hip and legs. Piriformis syndrome occurs when contractions or spasms of the piriformis muscle irritate the sciatic nerve (the longest spinal nerve, which extends from the lower back to the feet), causing pain in the hip and buttocks. Injections of steroids and an anesthetic directly into the piriformis muscle can reduce muscle spasms and help alleviate symptoms of sciatica and piriformis syndrome.
• Sacroiliac Joint Injections. The sacroiliac (SI) joint is located in the pelvis; it helps to support the spine. SI joint pain is felt in the lower back and buttocks. It can occur for a number of reasons such as injury to the joint, or damage to the ligaments, muscles, or cartilage in the area. SI joint injections typically involve both a corticosteroid medication and anesthetic, and is performed under X-ray guidance for pinpoint accuracy.
• Steroid Injections. A steroid injection administers inflammation-taming medication directly to the painful area, thereby helping to reduce a patient’s pain.
• Trigger Point Injection. Trigger points are knots of muscles that do not relax and are typically in the neck, back, and shoulders. They can usually be felt under the skin and can cause pain elsewhere in the body. When medication is injected into the muscle knot, it can relax the area. Trigger point injections are used to treat fibromyalgia, tension headaches, and myofascial pain syndrome. Overuse, injury, and pinched nerves can cause the formation of trigger points.

At Sonora Primary Care, we offer a wide variety of non-narcotic medications for immediate pain management needs, or to supplement other pain management approaches.

Occasionally, a patient’s pain may be so intense that medications are the ideal first line of treatment. This may be the case for certain types of cancer, physical trauma or injury, or acute medical conditions. In some cases, narcotic medications may be recommended.

Drug therapy may also be appropriate to enable a patient to complete, and ultimately bolster the effects of, other efforts such as physical therapy, exercise, counseling, etc.

We offer a variety of vitamins, minerals, and herbal remedies that can help provide nutrients necessary to promote healing and reduce pain, as well as to help detoxify the body.

There are any number of acute or chronic wounds that need medical care such as cuts that require stitches, open infections, or abscesses. Injury is the most common cause of wounds requiring medical attention, but chronic conditions such as diabetes can also result in sores and wounds that should be attended to by a doctor.