Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
CRPS is a rare condition causing chronic pain in one or more limbs. Patients often suffer an injury to the limb before CRPS begins.
Pain Management
Find relief from chronic pain with leading edge treatments that address the cause of your pain and ease your suffering
If you’re suffering from chronic pain, you may have a hard time getting relief. The cause of your pain may be hard to determine, or the treatments you’ve tried might not be working.
At IU Health Pain Management, we want to treat the root cause of your pain and relieve it so that you can return to your everyday life as quickly as possible.
Pain can result from injury or a chronic condition, or the cause of pain may be unclear. Some common causes of pain include:
- Acute pain from injury or surgery
- Arthritis
- Back pain
- Fibromyalgia
- Headaches
- Hip and leg pain
- Neck pain
- Pain from cancer
Treatment of your pain may focus on addressing the cause with therapy or surgery. You may also need medication to help reduce your pain. The specialists at IU Health Pain Management will help you determine the best approach to help you live as pain free as possible.
We believe your pain is real and deserves compassionate attention. Working with you to ease your pain, your care team may include:
- Anesthesiology
- Physiatry (physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation)
- Neurology
- Nursing
- Physical or occupational therapy
- Your regular doctor
Our services
Our pain specialists provide a wide variety of treatments that can reduce your pain and improve your quality of life.
Injection therapy
Injection therapy can help alleviate pain in the spine, joints, and back and neck. Depending on your pain, our highly skilled physicians can provide epidural injections, steroid injections and trigger point injections.
Nerve block
A nerve block is created by injecting a local anesthesia or other pain-reducing medication into a group of nerves that cause pain. Designed to minimize pain in a specific organ or area of the body, nerve blocks can include occipital and trigeminal, intercostal blocks, inguinal blocks, lateral femoral cutaneous, stellate ganglion and cervical plexus blocks.
Sympathetic block
A sympathetic block is an injection of local anesthetic in the sympathetic nerve tissue, located in the back on either side of the spine. This block may reduce pain, swelling, color and sweating changes in the lower extremity and may also improve mobility. Sympathetic blocks include stellate ganglia, lumbar sympathetic, celiac plexus and hypogastric plexus blocks.
Spinal cord stimulation
Spinal cord stimulation treats chronic neurological pain and is achieved using an implantable medical device.
An electric impulse generated by the device produces a tingling sensation that alters the perception of pain. The device is implanted into a patient’s epidural space and is connected via a wire harness to a pulse generator that gets implanted in the abdomen or buttocks.
Radiofrequency therapy
Pulsed radiofrequency ablation is used to treat chronic pain in various areas of the body and provides longer lasting pain relief.
Radiofrequency therapy uses a specialized machine to interrupt nerve conduction on a semi-permanent basis. The nerves are usually blocked for six to nine months, but can be as short as three months or as long as 18 months.
Additional treatment options
- Lumbar discography
- Physical and occupational therapies including massage and aquatic therapy
- Viscosupplementation (Synvisc and Supartz) for arthritis of the knee One-on-one counseling with a pain management specialist
Our Approach to Pain Management
We believe your pain is real and deserves compassionate attention. Working with you to ease your pain, your care team may include:
- Anesthesiology
- Physiatry (physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation)
- Neurology
- Nursing
- Physical or occupational therapy
- Your regular doctor
Our services
Our pain specialists provide a wide variety of treatments that can reduce your pain and improve your quality of life.
Injection therapy
Injection therapy can help alleviate pain in the spine, joints, and back and neck. Depending on your pain, our highly skilled physicians can provide epidural injections, steroid injections and trigger point injections.
Nerve block
A nerve block is created by injecting a local anesthesia or other pain-reducing medication into a group of nerves that cause pain. Designed to minimize pain in a specific organ or area of the body, nerve blocks can include occipital and trigeminal, intercostal blocks, inguinal blocks, lateral femoral cutaneous, stellate ganglion and cervical plexus blocks.
Sympathetic block
A sympathetic block is an injection of local anesthetic in the sympathetic nerve tissue, located in the back on either side of the spine. This block may reduce pain, swelling, color and sweating changes in the lower extremity and may also improve mobility. Sympathetic blocks include stellate ganglia, lumbar sympathetic, celiac plexus and hypogastric plexus blocks.
Spinal cord stimulation
Spinal cord stimulation treats chronic neurological pain and is achieved using an implantable medical device.
An electric impulse generated by the device produces a tingling sensation that alters the perception of pain. The device is implanted into a patient’s epidural space and is connected via a wire harness to a pulse generator that gets implanted in the abdomen or buttocks.
Radiofrequency therapy
Pulsed radiofrequency ablation is used to treat chronic pain in various areas of the body and provides longer lasting pain relief.
Radiofrequency therapy uses a specialized machine to interrupt nerve conduction on a semi-permanent basis. The nerves are usually blocked for six to nine months, but can be as short as three months or as long as 18 months.
Additional treatment options
- Lumbar discography
- Physical and occupational therapies including massage and aquatic therapy
- Viscosupplementation (Synvisc and Supartz) for arthritis of the knee One-on-one counseling with a pain management specialist
Through residency and fellowship programs at IU School of Medicine, IU Health Pain Management is educating new doctors in diagnosis and treatment of chronic and acute pain. We’re also engaged in research that can develop effective new treatments for reducing and managing pain.
Why IU Health for Pain Management
Through residency and fellowship programs at IU School of Medicine, IU Health Pain Management is educating new doctors in diagnosis and treatment of chronic and acute pain. We’re also engaged in research that can develop effective new treatments for reducing and managing pain.
Aug 23
A nurse is climbing mountains after pain intervention surgery
Patient Stories for Pain Management
Aug 23
A nurse is climbing mountains after pain intervention surgery
