Pain Management Techniques for Seniors
As we age, managing pain becomes essential for sustaining quality of life. The challenges seniors face can deeply impact their mental and physical health as they can have trouble getting up in the morning or running everyday errands. We’ll explore the ways that we can alleviate pain in aging bodies.
- Physical Activity
Maintaining mobility is key to pain management. Physical activity improves flexibility and strength while reducing pain associated with conditions like arthritis. Exercise will not only increase your quality of life, but also make daily tasks easier on your body.
Daily exercise is another great way to maintain your joint pain levels. It’s important to do low-impact workouts as this will alleviate any unnecessary strain on the body. Low-impact exercises such as yoga, water aerobics, and pilates all help reduce the risk of joint strain and injury while strengthening your muscles and flexibility.
- Nutrition and Lifestyle
A balanced diet and healthy lifestyle will play important roles in pain management. Anti-inflammatory foods and maintaining a healthy body weight alleviate strain on your joints. Proper hydration, getting enough sleep, and reducing stress levels further enhance overall well-being. Some of the anti-inflammatory foods that fight against joint pain and arthritis include tomatoes, green leafy vegetables, almonds, salmon, and berries.
- Minimally Invasive Medical Procedures
If you find yourself still struggling with pain management, it could be time to look into our minimally invasive medical procedures. Below are just a few of the services we offer for managing your pain:
- Epidural Steroid Injection (ESI): With this procedure, a combination of an anesthetic and cortisone steroid solution is injected into the epidural space. The steroid is an anti-inflammatory medication that is absorbed by the inflamed nerves to decrease swelling and relieve pressure, which provides immediate relief and long term comfort.
- Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA): This procedure uses heat from radio waves to treat painful facet joints in your lower back. This disrupts its ability to transmit pain signals. RFA’s treat pain that doesn’t respond to medications or to physical therapy.
- Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS): This is a device that uses electrical impulses to relieve chronic pain of the back, arms and legs. It is believed that electrical pulses prevent pain signals from being received by the brain. This device is trialed and if successful at relieving pain, is implanted. SCS candidates include patients who suffer from neuropathic pain and for whom other treatments have failed.
- Medication Management
Seniors are usually more prone to medication side effects. That is why it’s important to seek careful evaluation and tailored medication regimens from your provider. Regular monitoring ensures optimal pain relief with minimal risk.
Our providers at Spine & Joint Pain Specialists are dedicated to providing personalized precision care in medical and interventional pain management to improve your quality of life. Contact us today to learn more!