Those with challenging and severe pain associated with everything from active cancers to the complications of back surgery (post-laminectomy syndrome) can finally stop hurting and start living again with intrathecal pain pump treatment.
What is an intrathecal pain pump?
This form of treatment at the offices of The Hemlock Pain Center in Macon, Milledgeville, Warner Robins, and Dublin, Georgia, involves the implantation of a small device. This “pain pump” allows for the direct delivery of powerful medication to affected areas (the spinal cord and nerves). It gets its name from the exact site where it is placed – the intrathecal space. By infusing medication into this area between the spinal cord and the surrounding protective membranes, it reaches the spinal cord and nerves to control pain and abnormal muscle contractions effectively.
What are the benefits of intrathecal pain pump therapy?
In part, by infusing the medicine directly into the affected areas, effective relief can be obtained with a significantly lower dose than conventional therapies. In fact, the dose used is less than 1% of that used to manage pain with pills or IV therapy/injections. This approach is so powerful because the systems involved with the absorption and “processing” of the medication are bypassed. By applying the medicine where it is needed the most, it is not diluted (as is the case when medication in pills or delivered intravenously travels through the GI tract and bloodstream first). Additionally, the use of such an implant may reduce the side effects commonly associated with the long-term use of prescription pills.
