What Is Spinal Pain Mapping?

Suffering from chronic pain in your neck or back? Spinal pain mapping and its associated procedures might be the solution you’ve been searching for. By using advanced technology and imaging techniques, doctors can pinpoint the exact source of your pain and create a customized treatment plan tailored to your specific needs. Read on to learn what you need to know about spinal pain mapping.

Spinal Pain Mapping Explained

Spinal pain mapping is a procedure that medical professionals use to pinpoint the exact source of back pain. The process involves injecting small amounts of a numbing agent into specific areas of the spine to determine which nerves are causing the pain.

By identifying the exact location of the pain, doctors can develop a more targeted treatment plan, which can result in faster and more effective pain relief. While spinal pain mapping may sound daunting, it is a relatively safe and straightforward procedure that has helped many people find relief from neck and back pain.

Depending on the site and cause of your pain, your medical provider may suggest specific pain mapping procedures including:

• Cervical/Thoracic/Lumbar Steroid or Facet Injections
• Radiofrequency Ablation
• Sacroiliac Injections and Ablations
• Selective Nerve Root Blocks
• And more

Benefits of Spinal Pain Mapping

If you’re suffering from chronic neck or back pain, spinal pain mapping can help. Here are the primary benefits of spinal pain mapping:

• It isolates the specific location and source of your pain.
• It allows your medical team to treat pain in a specific area in the least invasive way possible.
• It helps your medical team create customized treatments based on your unique needs.

The Simple Steps of a Spinal Pain Mapping Procedure

Depending on which pain mapping procedure your doctor suggests, spinal pain mapping typically involves the following steps:

1. Your doctor injects a luminescent medication into your back, then identifies the source of your pain using an X-ray.
2. Your doctor applies a targeted dose of anesthetic to the irritated nerve, reducing or even eliminating pain coming from the nerve. In some cases, a steroid medication is added to reduce swelling or irritation around the affected nerve.
3. If your doctor suggests a selective nerve root block, they’re typically performed in succession to pinpoint the nerves causing you pain.
4. In most cases, the numbing medication wears off within a few hours. The overall goal is to discover which nerves are causing pain and what treatments will work best to reduce it.

Don’t Live With Chronic Pain—Call Impact Medical Group Today!

Lingering pain in your neck or back can interfere with your everyday life. Luckily, there are non-invasive treatment methods that can help. Using state-of-the-art, minimally-invasive treatments, the caring medical team at Impact Medical Group of Lutz can reduce or even eliminate your pain with spinal pain mapping. Call us today at (813) 536-0373 to request your free medical evaluation.