INTEGRATIVE PAIN CENTRE

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Our Services Cancer Pain Fibromyalgia Whiplash Acupuncture Minimally Invasive Pain Procedure Back Pain Contact Information Address: Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, Suite 08-01, 3 Mount Elizabeth, Singapore 228510 Telephone: Tel: (+65) 67334344 Fax: (+65) 67334244 Operating Hours: Monday to Friday – 9am to 5pm Saturday – 9am to 1pm E-mail: integrativepaincentre@paincentre.com.sg

Minimally Invasive Pain Procedures Treating chronic neck and back pain without surgery – An Interventional Approach to Pain Management Neck and back pains are a common problem among all Singaporean. More than 70% of the adult population will complain of neck or back pain at some stage of their life. As many as 13 to 15% will progress towards chronic (beyond 3 months duration) or recurrent neck or/and back pain problem, a condition which can have a significant impact on their life. Causes of neck or back pain can be varied and includes: 1. Internal disc disruption 2. Disc herniation with canal or recess stenosis 3. Facet joints arthropathy 4. Sacro-iliac joints arthropathy (only for back pain) It is also common for patient to have more than one source of pain. With the progress in interventional pain treatment, newer non-surgical treatment methods are now made available to both doctors and patients to help the fight against both neck and back pain. List of interventional therapy includes 1. Epidural steroid injection 2. Nerve root sleeve injection 3. Facet joint block 4. Sacro-iliac joint block 5. Facet joint radiofrequency rhizotomy 6. Sacro-iliac joint radiofrequency rhizotomy 7. Intra-discal injection and therapy, such as nucleoplasty 8. Neurolysis The advantage of these injection/ interventional therapy is that firstly it helps to correctly diagnosis patient’s pain generator as conventional techniques including MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) may NOT be accurate at times. Secondly the procedure will help to remove or decrease the intensity of the pain which the patient is experiencing. These procedures together with medications, physiotherapy and acupuncture help to reduce pain, maintain function and allow patient to cope much better with many of the activities of daily living. In a selected group of patient, the use of implantable, such as spinal cord stimulator can help control pain and improve function. Such implantable has the benefit of improving pain symptom and decreasing use of medications to control pain, thus limiting the associated side-effects. Although an interventional approach would mean that patient can now choose a different modality to complement the management of his/ her neck or back problem, it is not meant to be a replacement for physiotherapy, psychotherapy or back surgery. But, without the use of interventional pain management, many more patients would end up having to suffer from their chronic pain or needing to undergo more surgical procedures as a mean to manage their pain problem.

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