PAIN MANAGEMENT
It’s time for you to get the pain relief you need and the care you deserve. At OC Wellness Physicians Medical Group, we offer a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to pain management and optimal living.
You are more than your symptoms. When we work together, we consider every aspect of your life, from your health history, activity level, physical stressors, and wellness goals, to restore your health and improve your quality of life.
This integrative approach allows us to understand your unique circumstances to determine the most appropriate pain management treatments and effective therapies.
WHAT IS PAIN MANAGEMENT?
Pain can completely disrupt your life. It can be debilitating and frustrating. It may interfere with your sleep, concentration at work, daily activities, and quality time with friends and family.
Pain management programs help provide relief so you can enjoy your life.
Whether you are experiencing sudden acute pain, long-term chronic pain, or pain caused by a specific event such as an injury, surgery, or auto accident, it’s something you want to solve now.
It may not be apparent where the pain is coming from, but you need relief.
You are not alone. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 50 million American adults — 20.4 percent of the U.S. adult population — have chronic pain, defined as the pain you experience on most days or every day for at least six months.
Our interventional pain management specialists at OC Wellness Physicians Medical Group focus on diagnosing and managing chronic and acute pain. Our team works together to create a comprehensive, customized plan for each patient, including physical medicine, alternative treatments, and sports medicine options.
We believe in first using the most conservative, non-invasive modalities to correct the problem’s underlying cause. We work within the body’s natural healing process and only recommend drugs and surgeries as a last resort. Our patients also learn essential techniques in self-care, movement, and stretching to keep the pain from recurring in the future.
The majority of our patients receive tremendous results from our comprehensive treatments such as Chiropractic, Physical Therapy, Acupuncture, Massage Therapy, Weight Loss, and Pilates Training.
Some of our patients may need additional advanced pain relief options such as regenerative medicine to continue their corrective care program. Our cutting-edge sports medicine treatments at OC Wellness Physicians Medical Group include, but are not limited to PRP, Epidurals, Radio Frequency Ablations, Nerve Blocks, and more.
FINDING THE CAUSE OF PAIN
Unlike most physicians, we do not believe in masking your pain with narcotic medications. Commonly prescribed pain-relieving drugs such as Vicodin, Morphine, or Percocet have an incredible amount of adverse side effects. These drugs may help with temporary relief, but they don’t help heal the cause of your pain. And worse, your body can become addicted to them.
Our approach to patient care starts with asking the right questions, and listening to your situation, gathering an accurate history of your pain. After a comprehensive exam, we diagnose the core root that’s causing the problem. From there, our team of specialists formulates a complete and personalized pain therapy program for you to address the root cause.
INTEGRATIVE SOLUTIONS TO PAIN MANAGEMENT
Nearly every treatment plan includes a customized prescription for physical therapy, chiropractic, and rehabilitation. We use an integrative approach to correct your underlying cause of pain, address the issue from several different angles, and prescribe various modalities to get you immediate relief and long-term pain-free results.
We use an interdisciplinary way of addressing, managing, and helping to eliminate your pain. From Interventional Pain Management & Sports Medicine Therapies to Alternative Medicine, we bring together the most effective modalities to relieve your pain as quickly as possible.
Interventional Pain Management & Regenerative Therapies include:
- Epidurals – an epidural injection places cortisone steroid medicine into the area of the spine that surrounds the inflamed nerve root(s), helping to reduce nerve root inflammation and associated pain.
- Radio Frequency Ablations (RFA) – using heat generated from radio waves, this treatment targets specific nerves and temporarily turns off their ability to send pain signals.
- Nerve Blocks – an injection of nerve-numbing medication to a particular area of the body to help control acute pain.
- Trigger Point Injections – used to treat chronic muscle pain related to myofascial trigger points—highly sensitive bundles of fibers in tight bands of muscle—helping relax the muscle and provide immediate relief.
- Platelet-rich Plasma (PRP) – this treatment can stimulate your body’s ability to heal itself and help resolve the underlying cause of pain in your lower back, neck, and other joints.
- Bone Marrow-Derived Stem Cell Concentrate – which contains your own stem cells. We are experts in orthobiologic medicine and offer cutting-edge, natural therapies to tackle chronic joint pain and restore joint health for immediate and long-term results.
- Botox for Migraines – Would you like to get back to your daily life migraine-free? At OC Wellness Physicians Medical Group, we specialize in pain relief, including migraine management. Most people think of Botox only for aesthetics, but Botox injections can also provide pain relief in chronic migraines. Because migraines often occur from muscle spasms within the neck, head, and face, injecting small amounts of muscle-relaxing Botox can provide significant relief.
- Diagnostic Testing – To pinpoint the cause of your condition, injury, or reason for pain, we use many forms of modern diagnostic testing. OC Wellness Physicians Medical Group offers various diagnostic testing options, including x-ray, electromyography, nerve conduction studies, diagnostic ultrasound, and vascular testing. Your provider will recommend the proper test for you based on your symptoms. Once an accurate diagnosis is made, our team will create a treatment plan to get you back to your daily activities with less pain.
- Facet Joint Injection – Facet joints are pairs of small joints between the vertebrae in the spine, where they connect the backbone to each other. They allow the spine to bend and twist. If they get damaged, it can cause a great deal of pain. An injection into this specific area, placed into and around the facet joints, has two purposes. The injection can help diagnose if the facet joint is the source of the spinal pain. And it can also deliver medication to the spine for pain relief and inflammation reduction.
- Interlaminar Epidural Injection – This pain-relieving procedure uses fluoroscopic guidance to pinpoint the exact location and target the source of pain. An interlaminar epidural injection deposits medication through a bony opening at the back of the spine between vertebrae, going through the epidural space. It’s very effective in relieving acute and chronic spinal pain conditions like disc herniation.
- Intradiscal PRP Injection – When used in an intradiscal injection, platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, is an effective treatment for tissue regeneration and repair. An intradiscal PRP injection provides an anti-inflammatory effect by using plasma with a high concentration of growth factors. This process activates cell turnover and improves the vascular cells within the area of injection.
- Lumbar Sympathetic Nerve Block – Generally done to relieve leg pain or complex regional pain syndrome, a lumbar sympathetic nerve block helps ease pain after an injury to a joint or limb. In this procedure, we administer an anesthetic mixed with anti-inflammatory medication around the sympathetic nerves. This medication combination blocks the pain signals from reaching the brain so that you can enjoy less pain and more mobility.
- Manipulation Under Anesthesia – When your pain has not responded to other conservative treatments, manipulation under anesthesia may be an effective option. This non-invasive treatment helps reduce chronic pain, break up scar tissue, and improve range of motion. At OC Wellness Physicians Medical Group, we can provide chiropractic care under anesthesia to significantly reduce pain or muscle spasms during the procedure. Our chiropractic experts provide passive stretching, traction, and soft tissue mobilization to support pain relief and tissue healing.
- Non-Invasive Carpal Tunnel Release – This minimally-invasive endoscopic surgery is completed with only a small incision at the wrist and under light sedation. It’s a precise procedure where the tight ligament is released with a tiny cut. By releasing the transverse carpal ligament, pain relief and numbness dissipate quickly, sometimes even the same day.
- Pulsed Radiofrequency (PRF) – Are you suffering from nerve damage? This short, non-invasive pain-relieving procedure uses bursts of electronic currents to reset the nerve and change its pain signal transmission. PRF effectively reduces or eliminates nerve or localized pain in the body and is completed under conscious sedation or local anesthetic. At OC Wellness Physicians Medical Group, PRP is one of many pain-relieving procedures we may incorporate into your nerve-damage treatment plan.
- Selective Nerve Root Block – If you are experiencing pain from sciatica, herniated discs, or spinal stenosis, having a nerve root block can relieve pain after only one or two treatments. It consists of an anesthetic or anesthetic with steroid medication injected near the targeted nerve root through the foraminal space. It not only numbs the pain transmitted by the nerve but also reduces inflammation.
- Transforaminal Epidural Injection – This procedure provides targeted relief for irritated spinal nerve roots. Using precise fluoroscopic guidance, anti-inflammatory medicine is injected into the epidural space to reduce inflammation. Numbing medicine may also be injected to help with immediate pain relief. Depending on the pain source, transforaminal epidural injections can be done at multiple spinal pain sites in the same procedure, providing even more relief.
In our state-of-the-art Surgery Center, we have the precision to perform these and other procedures under fluoroscopy and offer specific procedures under sedation with our Board Certified Pain Management specialist. Combining advanced equipment with our professional therapeutic expertise, we’re able to provide you with the best results for immediate relief.
These Interventional Pain Management procedures are further enhanced by integrating post-procedure conservative therapies to provide longer-lasting pain relief.
Alternative Medicine:
- Active Release Techniques (ART)
- Acupuncture
- Chiropractic Care
- Massage Therapy
- Pilates
- Spinal Decompression
Our providers work together to develop treatment plans that adapt to your specific needs, helping you live a healthy and balanced life.
WHAT TYPES OF PAIN DO WE TREAT?
Although we focus on musculoskeletal pain, we treat an array of pain types and their causes. Below is a partial list of the conditions and symptoms that we treat:
BACK PAIN SYMPTOMS
- Spinal Stenosis
- Sciatic Pain
- Degenerative Disc Disease
- Scoliosis
- Chronic Pain
- Neuropathy
- Arthritis
- Slipping Rib Syndrome
NECK PAIN SYMPTOMS
- Headaches/Migraines
- TMJ
- Whiplash
- Chronic Pain
- Neuropathy
- Degenerative Disc Disease
- Arthritis
- Fibromyalgia
HEADACHE/MIGRAINE SYMPTOMS
- Neck Pain
- Shoulder Pain
- TMJ
- Whiplash
- Degenerative Disc Disease
- Nutrition
- Fibromyalgia
SHOULDER/ARM & WRIST PAIN SYMPTOMS
- Shoulder Pain/Injured Tendon
- Carpal Tunnel
- Tennis Elbow
- Arthritis/Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Fibromyalgia
- Rotator Cuff tears
WHAT CAN I EXPECT DURING MY FIRST VISIT?
At OC Wellness Physicians Medical Group, we provide a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to your pain care. Our medical doctors and physical medicine staff work together to offer holistic treatment programs for the best patient care. We believe that you can receive better, longer-lasting results from a combination of treatments.
But first, we want to know about you and what you are experiencing. Here’s a quick overview of what to expect during your initial appointment:
Let’s get to know you, how you feel, what you are experiencing, and what you’d like to improve.
- You’ll fill out a detailed health history.
- We’ll perform an examination and a series of tests.
- X-rays or other in-house imaging will be taken if needed.
- Our staff will develop an initial diagnosis.
- Our doctors will provide recommended options for a treatment plan.
- If you are using insurance, our staff will contact your insurance company about coverage. If you are not using insurance, we have flexible cash options and easy-pay financing plans available.
After your first appointment, you will have a better understanding of your condition, options for the next steps, and a recommended course of treatment.
OC Wellness Physicians Medical Group provides comprehensive pain management and injury recovery programs. Our entire team is dedicated to you and living your life pain-free!
CLICK HERE TO SCHEDULE A CONSULTATION
Pain can be managed in a multitude of ways, depending on the cause and specific circumstances.
At OC Wellness Physicians Medical Group, we incorporate various modalities to get you the best results as fast (and long-lasting) as possible. From Functional Medicine and Conservative Therapies such as physical therapy, medication, and injections to Chiropractic and Acupuncture, we offer a combination of effective treatments to get you feeling good again.