Injections for Pain

Using diagnostic ultrasound, we can trace nerves as they exit your spine, follow their course as they travel to your extremities, identify any swollen and/or compressed areas, and administer an injection to break down the areas that are entrapping the nerve and causing your pain. This procedure is called nerve hydrodissection.

At PICSM we are specially trained in this technique, and Dr. Phillip M. Steele lectures widely on the topic of nerve entrapments and hydrodissection treatment.

Who Can Benefit from Nerve Hydrodissection?

• We have helped hundreds of patients suffering from chronic cervical, occipital, and temporal headaches using ultrasound-guided nerve injections to break up scar tissue that is causing pain.
• After surgery, a buildup of scar tissue can cause entrapment of nearby nerves, resulting in chronic pain and stiffness. We have helped relieve chronic pain in patients after joint replacement, rotator cuff surgery, and even abdominal surgery.

Neural prolotherapy (NPT) is an exciting regenerative treatment for nerve pain. Using a 5% dextrose (sugar) solution, we inject the solution into the surrounding area of an inflamed peripheral nerve. The goal is to reduce the neurogenic inflammation, swelling, and pain. We use NPT to treat nerve pain from head to toe:

• Back and neck pain
• Shoulder pain
• Wrist and hand pain
• Knee pain
• Foot and ankle pain
• Achilles tendonitis

The injection is placed just beneath the skin, so the pain is minimal. Patients will often have immediate relief. Depending on the severity of your pain, however, you may require multiple treatments to become pain-free. Treatments are given 2-4 weeks apart.

How Does Neural Prolotherapy Work?

Dr. John Lyflogt expanded on the treatments that were introduced in 1989. He has since been using this technique to treat various pain and musculoskeletal conditions with outstanding results.

The theory of NPT was based on “Hilton’s Law,” named after Dr. John Hilton, a British surgeon. He stated that the nerve that provides sensation to a joint also provides sensation to the skin overlying that joint as well as the muscles that move the joint.

Dr. Lyflogt found that an irritated nerve that supplies sensation to the skin over a joint may also cause dysfunction and pain to the muscles and tissue around that joint. He theorized that restoring peripheral nerve function would lead to healing in deeper structures and a reduction in pain. NPT is now being taught around the world.