Injections
Non-Invasive Pain Management
Dr. Albano knows that surgery isn’t always the answer in treating a patient’s pain. Often, a non-surgical approach such as spinal injections can be used to treat numerous spine conditions. While injections can’t cure a patient’s condition, injections can help relieve and manage the pain.
Here are the six types of injections that he uses, depending on a patient’s particular condition.
Facet & Sacroiliac Joint Rhizotomy
Facet and sacroiliac (SI) joint pain can be extremely painful, and the goal of the rhizotomy procedure for these joints is to alleviate this pain.
The sacroiliac joints connect your hip bones to either side of your sacrum (tailbone). While there is very little motion in the sacroiliac joint (about 3 degrees), that motion can become very painful.
Facet joints are small joints located in pairs on the back of the spine that provide stability to the spine and allow the spine to move and be flexible.
A rhizotomy is a minimally invasive procedure to disable a sensory nerve. This can be done by heating, freezing, or pulsing the nerve with radiofrequency waves to prevent pain signals from reaching the brain. The procedure itself takes 20-40 minutes. It is a day case, meaning no overnight stay is required. Dr. Albano uses a specialized needle which does not require an incision. Local anesthetic is injected after the rhizotomy to provide further pain relief.
Successful treatment can result in pain relief for 6-24 months. The procedure can be repeated if your pain returns.