Treatments

Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is defined as pain that lasts at least 12 weeks. When an injury occurs, pain signals travel from the injured area to your brain. Pain will usually become less severe as the injury heals. However, with chronic pain, your body continues to send pain signals to your brain, even after an injury heals.Using Nerve Blocks, we can disrupt these signals, to reduce pain.

Myofascial Pain Syndrome (MPS)

A condition involving Trigger Points, which are contracted muscle fibres, identified as painful bands/nodules within the affected muscle as well as the fascia of the muscle tissue. These Trigger Points can pull on tendons and ligaments associated with the muscle, causing pain in distant locations known as referred pain. Often caused from injuries and accidents, repetitive strain, and poor posture. Life stress, poor sleep, and cold/damp weather can aggravate trigger points and your pain.

Trigger Point Injection (TPI)

TPI can help soothe muscle pain by helping muscles that can’t relax on their own. They are often used to treat Myofascial Pain Syndrome (MPS), fibromyalgia, mechanical back pain, and chronic headaches.

Nerve Block

Nerves control your muscles (which help you move) and sensation (which help you feel; touch, temperature, pain, etc.). By blocking a nerve with local anaesthetic, we can reduce nerve pain and the associated spasm. Often done in conjunction with TPI, Nerve Blocks allow treatment of the entire muscle or muscles, giving more complete and wider effect than TPI alone.

Joint and Bursitis Injections

Injections of local anaesthetic, with or without cortisone, to treat arthritis or bursitis of various joints. The risks and benefits of cortisone injection will be discussed prior to any treatments.

Botox for Chronic Pain and Migraine

Botox for cosmetic purposes is well known. Less well known is its use for pain. Botox injections are very effective for headaches and can often relieve pain for 3-6 months. At our clinic we have experience treating other areas of pain with Botox including back pain, neck and shoulder pain. Health Canada has approved Botox as preventive treatment for Chronic Migraine.
The International Headache Society defines episodic migraine as being unilateral, pulsing discomfort of moderate-to-severe intensity, which is aggravated by physical activity and associated with nausea and/or vomiting as well as photophobia and/or phonophobia (sensitivity to light and sound).
Botox injections are not covered by MSP for headaches or chronic pain. However, many private insurers will cover most of the costs of Botox for chronic migraine. There is a separate injection fee for the administration of Botox by the physician.