Is driving increasingly difficult because of nagging neck pain when you turn your head? Or do you experience lower back pain simply from standing straight? Spine-related pain isn’t just uncomfortable; it can limit everyday activities.
Many people know this misery firsthand. Some 84% of adults experience lower back pain at least once in their lives, and up to 70% of people develop neck pain at least once.
But just because back and neck pain are pervasive doesn’t mean you have to live with either.
At Interventional Spine and Pain Institute in Vero Beach and Palm Bay, Florida, pain management specialists Dr. Michael Esposito, Dr Christopher Weeden, and Dr. Melissa Burgos offer an extensive list of the latest solutions, including radiofrequency ablation (RFA).
Here’s what you need to know about this potentially life-changing treatment.
There are many different causes of back and neck pain, but nerve compression along the spine is a common one. Thirty-one pairs of spinal nerves and roots exit your spine — 8 pairs in your neck, 12 in your mid back (thoracic spine), 5 in your lumbar spine, 5 in your sacral spine, and one pair in your coccyx.
When you visit Dr. Esposito, the first step is to identify the cause of your pain and which nerve roots are responsible for your discomfort.
Once he locates the overactive nerves that are sending pain signals to your brain, they are targeted with radiofrequency energy. The energy ablates, or burns, the end of the nerve, preventing it from sending out signals.
Dr. Esposito often recommends that many of our patients try RFA first before resorting to risky surgery. Radiofrequency ablation is low-risk and long-lasting for pain relief. In fact, before we perform this procedure, we first locate the problematic nerves and administer a 24-hour nerve block to ensure that we’re targeting the right nerve.
If you find relief from your back or neck pain after this nerve block, it’s clear that the correct nerve fibers are being blocked, and we can proceed with your RFA.
RFA is an in-office procedure that requires only a local anesthetic. Dr. Esposito uses fluoroscopy (live X-ray) to guide a hollow needle into position. Once the needle is near your overactive nerve, he threads an electrode through that delivers the RF energy. This energy heats the nerve fibers, creating a lesion that turns off pain signaling.
Your RFA procedure takes only minutes to perform, and you’re free to go home afterward with very few limitations (we do ask that you take it easy on the first day and avoid strenuous exercise or lifting for a week or two).
The duration of pain relief varies. Nerves can regenerate, and this process typically occurs within 3 to 9 months. That said, some people experience pain relief for years after their RFA procedure because their nerve fibers don’t regenerate.
To explore whether radiofrequency ablation might be the solution you’ve been looking for for your back or neck pain, call Dr. Esposito and the team at Interventional Spine & Pain Institute. We have offices in Vero Beach and Palm Bay, Florida.
