Pain. Wherever it is in your body, not only can it drastically impact your life, but it can also be incredibly complex to manage. Treating chronic pain requires comprehensive skills that address multiple facets of pain management, including medicine, alternative medicine, lifestyle changes, physical rehabilitation, psychological support and interventional approaches, such as injections and brain stimulation.

At Sutter East Bay Medical Foundation, our team includes doctors and nurse practitioners who specialize in neurology, anesthesia and pain management.

To understand the cause and source of your pain, we perform a sophisticated diagnosis that includes a specialized, targeted history, a physical examination, and imaging and neuroelectric tests. Then, we work with you to create a personalized pain management plan. We offer nerve blocks, injections and other procedures primarily geared to treat back, neck and joint pain. Nearly all these treatments take less than 30 minutes to administer on an outpatient basis:

• Epidural, transforaminal and other steroid injections.
• Medial branch blocks and facet joint injections — The use of long-lasting corticosteroids and local anesthetics to treat pain caused by the small joints of the spine.
• Radiofrequency nerve ablation — A procedure that treats back and neck pain by using precisely controlled heat to temporarily disable the nerves responsible for pain.
• Knee, hip and shoulder injections — Injections of corticosteroids, local anesthetics or hyaluronan that go directly into the joint to reduce the pain arising from arthritis.
• Occipital nerve blocks — Local anesthetic safely injected into the back of the head to treat a type of headache called occipital neuralgia.
• Spinal cord stimulation.
• Intrathecal pump for pain management — Pain-relieving medications delivered directly into the spinal canal through a pump implanted under the skin.

In addition to traditional medications, our specialists also offer alternative options, including:

• Manual medicine — A medical field combining osteopathy and chiropractic.
• Osteopathic medication management, including the use of suboxones.
• Osteopathic manipulation therapy — Since structural problems in the spinal column can affect nerves, osteopaths use this hands-on therapy to apply manual pressure to the spine, muscles and joints to restore normal function in the body.
• Physical therapy.