Pain can limit the ability to lead a productive life at both work and home. Consider consulting with the pain management specialists at Methodist McKinney Hospital if your pain doesn’t respond to customary treatments within a reasonable amount of time. Pain management is also known in some areas as pain medicine. It makes no difference if it's called pain medicine or pain management, both control short-term and chronic pain. Pain management focuses on the care of acute and chronic pain syndromes that result from injury or from disease. The study and practice of pain management has grown in importance because pain is now the number one cause of disability in the United States. Pain management is a way to combat pain that ranges from a short-term localized pain to longer-lasting chronic pain.

Pain Management Staff Craig Chambers, MD John Paul Benavides, MD Lee Brock, MD Howard G. Diamond, MD Ainsworth B. Farrell, MD Deborah M. Holubec, MD Jerry Holubec, MD Paul Kurian, MD Craig Lankford, MD Jason Marchetti, MD Wesley Merritt, MD Nayan R. Patel, MD Sreenadha R. Vattam, MD Jay Neerav Bhatla, MD

A pain management team can include psychologists, medical doctors, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and nurses. Pain management may be used in conjunction with pharmaceuticals, physical therapy, analgesics, exercise, cognitive behavioral therapy, hot and cold therapies and biofeedback.

At Methodist McKinney Hospital, the pain management physicians offer epidural steroid injections, peripheral nerve blocks, and pain pump implantation, spinal and peripheral percutaneous implantation of neurostimulators and facet joint injections. A steroid injection is one pain management option for short-term pain relief. In this pain management method, a steroid such as cortisone is injected into the epidural space that surrounds the spinal cord by a pain management doctor. This injection of pain medicine helps to reduce pain, tingling and numbness in the lower back that's caused by nerve inflammation. Another pain management option available at Methodist McKinney Hospital is a nerve block. A nerve block is performed by a pain management doctor. The nerve block is an injection of anesthetic onto or near the nerves. This injection is given by a pain management doctor. It is designed to temporarily control the pain the patient experiences in a specific area. A pain management doctor might use a nerve block as a diagnostic tool to determine where the pain is coming from, as a method to preempt pain, or as way to delay surgery. Another option the pain management doctors at Methodist McKinney Hospital use to control pain is implanting a neurostimulator. A neurostimulator is a transmitter and battery connected by cables. Like other pain management methods, a neurostimulator inhibits feelings of pain along the nerve fibers. Many of these pain medicine options can be done on an outpatient basis. Talk to the pain management specialists at Methodist McKinney Hospital for more information on pain management options.

Whether the cause is a lingering sports injury, back pain, or the result of an automobile accident, the pain management specialists at Methodist McKinney Hospital can offer effective and straight-forward treatment options for pain.

Our common pain management procedures include: 

• Epidural steroid injections
• Peripheral nerve blocks
• Implantation of pain pump
• Percutaneous implantation of neurostimulator (Spinal & Peripheral)
• Facet joint injections