Currently, spinal cord compression is a common problem, especially among urban dwellers. The symptoms typically include radiating pain from the back down the leg to the calf or the back of one foot. However, not everyone diagnosed with spinal cord compression needs surgery since there are various treatment methods, which vary from person to person depending on several factors.
Some patients experience problems such as pain behind the left knee, calf pain, and numb toes after playing sports. Often misconstrued as muscle inflammation, but after using high-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for diagnosis, it turns out to be spinal disc herniation compressing the nerve. The treatment approach is for the doctor to recommend medication and physical therapy, but if the pain does not improve, surgery may be necessary.
Many patients are concerned and have questions such as: Is surgery really necessary? Will surgery cure the condition? Are there any side effects? Some patients do not recover fully from physical therapy and need to continue taking medication, leaving them to live with intermittent pain which degrades their quality of life. What are the ways to help these patients alleviate pain without resorting to surgery?
Non-surgical Treatment to Alleviate Spinal Pain
The treatment for alleviating pain from the spine without surgery, known as “Intervention” (Interventional Spine Pain management), offers another treatment option. This non-surgical treatment for back pain involves using tools like “needles” for treating, which may involve “injections” or “stimulation”, with several options available. This method is popular internationally because it is less risky than surgery and helps some patients recover from pain without needing surgery.
The “Intervention” technique for treating spinal pain has been around for a long time internationally. A group of doctors who call themselves “Pain Specialists” is suitable for patients with distinct nerve pain symptoms, no weak nerve symptoms, but if medication or physical therapy for a period does not ease the pain, instead of undergoing surgery, patients can choose to reduce pain with the Intervention technique.
A popular Intervention approach is a selective nerve root block, which involves injecting medication into a specific nerve root to reduce radiating nerve pain, in cases of spinal disc herniation or compression from degeneration, for example. This method can help address neck or back pain issues.
Another method is stimulating the spinal joints with high-frequency radio waves (Pulse radio – frequency), which is used for chronic back or neck pain from spinal joint degeneration, but not nerve compression. This type of pain, different from nerve pain, feels deep within the shoulders, neck, shoulder blades, or mid-back, caused by degenerated bones rubbing against each other, with no indication for surgery, but causing daily pain due to bone friction.
Intervention for Chronic Pain Relief
The “Intervention” treatment technique allows patients to live happily without suffering from chronic pain. Additionally, for patients whose physical health conditions make surgery too risky, such as those with high blood pressure, diabetes, or fear of infection, Intervention techniques offer another option for pain relief that reduces the risks associated with surgical methods as it primarily uses needles instead of knives, resulting in less tissue injury.
Comparing spinal treatment with the “Intervention” technique can be likened to treating coronary artery disease with “Intervention” techniques, such as angioplasty without surgery, widely recognized to be effective, especially in patients with not very severe arterial occlusion and no immediate need for open-heart surgery.
Therefore, the “Intervention” treatment for back pain from the spine without surgery has become another effective option for alleviating pain in cases where the pathology does not severely compress the nerves, and the pain persists. Internationally, doctors often offer it as an option to patients who cannot tolerate the pain before deciding on surgery.
Advantages of Intervention
The significant advantage of “Intervention” is that it costs less than surgery and does not require hospitalization, which can be quite expensive internationally. In Thailand, there are many patients suffering chronic pain from spine anomalies and compressed nerves, who can alleviate their pain with medication or physical therapy instead of unnecessary or overly risky surgery relative to their condition.
The Intervention treatment thus offers another option for alleviating pain from spinal compression, improving the quality of life for those patients without the need for daily pain medication.
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