Frequently Asked Questions About Our Practice and Unparalleled Services
Pain is a warning system, alerting you that something is wrong within your body. Most forms of pain can be divided into two general categories: acute and chronic. Acute pain is temporary. It usually lasts a few seconds or longer but decreases as healing occurs. Examples of things that can cause acute pain include burns, cuts, and fractures. Chronic pain, such as that seen in people with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, ranges from mild to severe and can last a lifetime
Pain management physicians, also known as interventional pain physicians, diagnose and treat people who have acute and chronic pain in the neck, back, arms, and legs.
After medical school, the physician completes an internship, which is followed by 3-4 years of additional specialty training (a residency) in one of the following specialties: Anesthesiology, neurology, or physical medicine and rehab (PMR). Following this residency, the physician then completes a fellowship in comprehensive pain management training. All total, your pain management physician receives nearly 14 years of training after high school to provide comprehensive care in this specialty. All of the physicians at Farmbrook Interventional Pain and EMG are board certified in physical medicine and rehab or anesthesiology.
During you first visit, you will have a comprehensive medical examination where our board-certified physicians will take a thorough history and perform a physical exam. This allows our physicians to identify possible areas that are causing your pain. Our physicians will then formulate treatment options and modalities that are targeted uniquely to the individual.
Procedures can vary, but the main purpose of the procedures is to deliver medication directly to the area where the physician thinks the pain is coming from. This can be done using ultrasound guidance, X-ray guidance. These procedures will be done with the use of light sedation, where the patient is a twilight, or the procedures can be done with the use of local anesthesia. Local anesthesia numbs up the area where the procedure will occur.
As an interventional pain office we try to create individual, comprehensive treatment plans to effectively treat your specific painful condition. Our primary focus is on interventional techniques supplemented with other modalities. Other modalities include durable medical equipment, such as back braces and TENS units. We can also prescribe patient physical therapy. Our physicians prescribe medications. If a patient is prescribed a narcotic to help reduce their pain, the patient must undergo an in-house urine drug screen each month to make sure the medication is in their system. Also our physicians check the MAPS website before the visit to ensure that the patient is only getting the narcotic medication from our clinic only.
All injections are out patient procedures, which means that the procedure is done without being admitted to a hospital. All patients go home within an hour of their appointment time.
Yes. For patients with insurance that covers it, we offer conscious sedation that minimizes pain and discomfort with the use of pain relievers and sedatives. If you choose to use conscious sedation for your procedure, you must not eat or drink anything after midnight.
Yes. This is required to decrease your chance of a complication. You need to obtain permission to stop this medication from the prescribing physician.
Stop 24 hours prior to procedure:
1. Heparin
2. Lovenox
3. Aspirin 81 mg
Stop 5 days prior to procedure:
1. Coumadin (warfarin)
Stop 7 days prior to procedure:
1. Plavix (Clopidrogrel)
2. Pletal (cilostazol)
3. Aspirin 325mg