What is Trigeminal Neuralgia?

If you’ve ever experienced a moment of excruciating pain while brushing your teeth, applying make-up, or performing some other mildly stimulating act involving your face, you may be experiencing Trigeminal Neuralgia. The severity of this condition can increase over time, with these pain sensations happening more often and lasting longer. Thankfully, treatment options exist that […]

Why Does My Back Hurt

Your spinal column plays an important role in almost all forms of movement, so it’s not surprising that back pain is one of the most common complaints received by doctors. In addition to being your body’s primary form of structural support, it’s flexibility is essential to day to day life. The back pain that concerns […]

How Epidurals Work

When a new child is arriving on its way, it’s an exciting and nerve-wracking time for new parents. However, if you’re new to birthing a child, learning what the birthing process entails can much prepare you towards the big push to the next part of your life. For expecting mothers, the prospects of what lies […]

Tips For Treating Nerve Pain

Your nerves are essential to your healthy functioning, delivering important messages about pain, temperature, and balance to your brain from all parts of your body. When you’re experiencing nerve pain it can range from small aches to debilitating pain that leaves you unable to function. The effects of nerve pain go beyond the feelings of […]

Prescription Free Pain Management

What general options do I have to treat my pain? Treating chronic pain can be done in multiple ways. Medication is the most often used treatment for chronic pain, but depending on the type of prescription, it can lead to a serious case of dependency on the drug and addiction. Drugs such as anti-inflammatory, antidepressant, […]

What Is Pain Management?

When you’re experiencing constant or regular pain from chronic pain, there’s a team of people who are ready to help tackle your discomfort and help you manage it while returning to a more fulfilling life. These experts are in the field of Pain Management and work every day to help patients like you tackle the […]

Cervicogenic Headaches

A cervicogenic headache is the result of what’s called referred pain. This is pain that is felt in one area of the body although it is physically occurring in another part of the body. The cervicogenic headache is the result of a primary issue – usually a sickness o physical problem in another part of […]

Is ketamine for me?

Pain management is something many of our patients come to us for. Whether they’ve suffered trauma from a car accident or suffer from fibromyalgia, chronic pain greatly impacts people’s lives. Imagine trying to work, spend time with family, or clean the house while you’re in pain all the time. At Delaware Valley Pain and Spine […]

Trigeminal Neuralgia

Trigeminal Neuralgia, or TN, is a cranial nerve condition that causes intense facial pain on one or both sides of the face in sudden and sporadic episodes. Though the pain typically only lasts seconds, many people with trigeminal neuralgia describe the pain as debilitating and unbearable. Usually, this impulsive pain occurs unexpectedly and without warning, […]

Occipital Nerve Block

Occipital nerve blocks  are shallow scalp injections used for the purpose of diagnosing or treating pain stemming from the greater and lower occipital nerves. The occipital nerves are located along the back of the head just above the neck. By injecting a numbing or anti-inflammatory medication, it is possible to reduce swelling and inflammation in […]

Migraine Headaches

Migraines are headaches that cause throbbing or pulsating pain that is usually limited to one side of the head. These headaches affect everyone differently, with some people experience mild to moderate migraines lasting for only a half hour, and others battling debilitating pain for hours or even days on end. Not everyone is prone to […]

Cervical Medial Branch Block

Cervical medial branch blocks are diagnostic injections used patients who suffer from chronic neck, upper back, shoulder, and headache pain. These injections contain an anesthetic that is applied to the medial branch nerves located near the facet joints of the cervical spine. When the facet joints become inflamed, the nearby medial branch nerves send pain […]

Cervical and Lumbar Radiculopathy

Cervical radiculopathy is a condition in which nerve roots in the cervical spine (neck) are compressed by surrounding vertebrae. Lumbar radiculopathy is an equivalent condition of the lower spine and is more common than cervical radiculopathy. Compression can damage the nerves nearest to the spine, causing immense pain, muscle weakness and even numbness in various […]

Cervical Epidural Steroid Injection

Cervical epidural steroid injections are used for the treatment of chronic pain stemming from the cervical spine. This may present as upper back pain, neck pain, head pain, and pain that radiates into the upper extremities. The injections are non-surgical and performed on an outpatient basis. Usually, a combination of steroidal and numbing medications is […]

Atypical Facial Pain

Facial pain that originates from an unknown source is usually diagnosed as atypical facial pain. Not to be mistaken for trigeminal neuralgia, which is sporadic and intense facial pain caused by pressure on the trigeminal nerve, atypical facial pain occurs chronically and is often of psychologic origin. This condition can present with either sharp or […]

Botox for Migraines

Botox – the cosmetic formulation frequently used to help smooth lines and wrinkles – is effective in the treatment of chronic migraine headaches. Millions of Americans suffer from migraine headaches, many of which are debilitating. As an alternative to pain medications, which provide only temporary relief, Botox that is given at regular intervals, a few […]

Spinal Cord Stimulator Trial

A spinal cord stimulator trial is a temporary stimulating wire used over the course of several days to determine whether a permanent stimulator implant would be effective for providing a patient with long-term pain relief. Spinal cord stimulators deliver low voltage electrical pulses to the epidural space outside the spinal cord, relieving chronic or intense […]

Sacroiliac Joint Injection

The sacroiliac (SI) joints are found at the base of the spine at the convergence of the sacrum and ilium bones. The joints where these two bones come together can become injured or inflamed, causing radiating pain, tingling, and other uncomfortable sensations in the lower back, hips, and lower extremities. Injections are given to both […]

Peripheral Nerve Stimulator

Lumbar Transforaminal Epidural Steroid Injection

Lumbar transforaminal epidural steroid injections are pain management tools used to hone in on specific nerves responsible for lower back pain and radiculopathy in the lower extremities. During a transforaminal injection, steroids are injected directly into the neural foramen where nerves exit the spine. In comparison to interlaminar and caudal epidural steroid injections, transforaminal ESIs […]

Lumbar Sympathetic Block

A lumbar sympathetic block is an injection of numbing medication to temporarily numb the nerves in the sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nerves are located in the lower back on each side of the spine, stretching from the spine into the lower body and legs. They are primarily responsible for regulating blood flow, although they […]

Lumbar Radiofrequency Ablation

Radiofrequency ablation is a medical procedure used to alleviate chronic lower back pain caused by an inflamed facet joint. The facet joints are located in pairs along the spine, from which medial branch nerves submit pain signals to the brain. A radiofrequency ablation (RFA) destroys these nerves using an electrically charged needle that submits heat […]

Lumbar Medial Branch Block

The lower spine is lined with small joints called facet joints. These joints contain medial nerves that submit pain signals to the brain when the joint has become inflamed. A lumbar medial branch block is a numbing injection administered to the nerves of an inflamed facet joint in the lower back. The medication ‘blocks’ pain […]