Months into neck pain, a person may have already completed physical therapy, tried anti-inflammatory medication or muscle relaxants, and undergone an injection that helped briefly before the pain returned. The frustrating part is not only the pain itself. It's the uncertainty about what remains when familiar treatments haven't provided lasting relief. Cervical nerve ablation can … Read more
Radiofrequency ablation typically provides 6 to 12 months of meaningful pain relief, although some patients maintain improvement for several years. The time until another treatment varies, and a recent real-world study found an average repeat interval of 380.6 days in lumbar facet pain. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772594425000378 A patient usually asks this question while sitting in the consultation … Read more
A patient may arrive at a pain clinic after months of neck or low back pain, normal-looking days interrupted by sharp flares, and little improvement from exercise, medication, or other conservative care. Imaging may show several age-related changes, but it often can't identify which finding is generating the pain. That uncertainty is where a medial … Read more
You've just left the clinic after radiofrequency ablation, and the questions often begin once the monitoring ends. Is soreness expected? Can normal movement make the treatment less effective? Is returning to work tomorrow reasonable, or should the body have more time? The procedure may be over, but radiofrequency ablation recovery time is still unfolding. For … Read more
A person can spend weeks doing physical therapy, changing pillows, taking medication, and trying to work around persistent neck pain, only to hear that an MRI looks “normal for age.” That experience is frustrating, but it doesn't mean the pain is imaginary or untreatable. A cervical facet joint can generate substantial pain even when imaging … Read more
You've tried rest, stretching, medication, and perhaps even an injection, yet the pain keeps returning whenever you stand, twist, or lean backward. That pattern is frustrating, but it doesn't automatically mean the next step is another injection or a more invasive procedure. The most important question is whether the pain comes from a facet joint, … Read more
You wake up with the same ache in your lower back or neck that has already outlasted the stretches, the pills, and maybe even physical therapy. The pain is still there when you stand at the sink, turn to back out of the driveway, or try to sleep through the night, and now someone has … Read more