Chronic Pain?

Pain Management Options
At Medical Pain & Spine Care of Indiana, patient treatment options may involve imaging, spine procedures, muscle and joint pain treatment, pain management device implants, medication management, chronic pain management infusions and even medical weight loss, since obese and overweight patients often experience more joint pain and lower back pain and require lower back pain relief.

Diagnostic Imaging
Depending on the location of your pain, you may need diagnostic imaging with CT scan, MRI, ultrasound, X-ray or other tests that may help diagnose the source of pain. We do not perform these diagnostic tests at Medical Pain & Spine Care of Indiana. Instead, we refer our patients to nearby facilities.

Physical Therapy and Home Exercises
We refer most of our patients with pain to physical therapy or provide home exercises to help the body heal itself. The goal is to minimize long term use of opioids as much as possible.

Cervical, Thoracic, Lumbar Spine Procedures
Dr. Klim performs a variety of minimally invasive cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine procedures to relieve pain. These include:

• Caudal epidural steroid injections
• Diagnostic discography
• Epidural steroid injection
• Facet joint injections (cervical, thoracic, lumbar)
• Ganglion block, lumbar sympathetic
• Ganglion block, stellate medial branch nerve block
• Radiofrequency ablation of medial branch nerves
• Sacroiliac joint injection
• Selective spinal nerve root block

Muscle & Joint Pain Treatment 
Muscle or joint pain is extremely common and has many possible causes. Osteoarthritis is one underlying cause often characterized by joint pain. Sports and work activities can cause muscle and joint pain through overuse, hyperextension and other types of injury/trauma. Pain-relieving treatments may include:

• Joint injections (hip, knee, shoulder)
• Peripheral nerve blocks
• Trigger point injections

Pain Management Devices 
When chronic pain doesn't respond to medication, or a patient cannot tolerate drug side effects, Dr. Klim may prescribe a neurostimulator, spinal cord stimulator or intrathecal drug pump therapy. Implantable devices such as these can help you manage your pain, restore your ability to perform daily activities, decrease your need for prescription painkillers and improve your quality of life. The spinal cord stimulator is effective for controlling chronic pain that is broadly felt in the arms, back and legs.

Medication Management 
Medications to treat pain include opioid analgesics, anticonvulsants, antidepressants, topical analgesics/pain ointments, muscle relaxants and NSAIDs. Medication management helps patients avoid dangerous drug interactions while ensuring they obtain the best possible pain relief.

Some pain medications are associated with significantly more risk than others. It is important for patients to understand the risks associated with certain medications and combinations used for pain treatment and communicate the benefits and side effects of their individual pain medications to Dr. Klim.

Combining medications for pain with other therapies, including injections, physical therapy and behavioral and lifestyle counseling, usually leads to the greatest improvement in functional capability and quality of life.