Pain Despite Injections

There are many patients that continue to experience chronic pain and other symptoms after undergoing interventional pain procedures, such as epidurals or nerve blocks, which were intended to alleviate their back pain and improve function.  This can be due to technical difficulties by the doctor during the procedure.  Pain procedures required precise placement of needles onto the target to achieve desired results.

Over his 20+ year career Dr. Pathare has treated numerous patients that have been to other pain management physicians that could not find relief after numerous nerve blocks, injections.  Often times, the pain procedure performed was not the correct procedure or the procedure was not performed in an accurate manner.

The reasons for this are due to incorrect diagnosis as to what is causing the pain.

The source of the pain is not correctly identified.  Often, this happens because other healthcare professionals focus on MRI findings without putting all the pieces of the puzzle together as to what is causing the problem. 

Therefore, procedures that are performed to relieve pain from a source that is not actually causing the pain will not help the patient.

In Many cases the pain is Not originating from the herniated disc or other MRI finding. Instead, the pain is originating from Deep Trigger Points within certain muscles. DeepTrigger Points can mimic pain from Sciatica, pinched nerve, radiculopathy, and can be the cause of headaches, neck pain, back pain.

• Deep trigger points are areas of tight, hyperirritable muscle fibers that form within a muscle and cause pain in the local area or sometimes in another part of the body. These points are often deeper within the muscle tissue and are typically more difficult to reach than superficial trigger points. Trigger points are often associated with myofascial pain syndrome and can result from muscle overuse, poor posture, stress, injury, or other factors.

• When pressure is applied to a deep trigger point, it may cause localized tenderness or a referred pain sensation in another area. This referred pain is one of the hallmark characteristics of trigger points, where pain is felt at a site distant from the trigger point itself. For example, a trigger point in the neck might cause pain, tingling, numbness in the head, shoulder, arm, or hand.  Lower back trigger points can cause pain, tingling, and numbness that radiates down the leg, potentially mimicking sciatica/radiculopathy/ pinched nerve.