Spinal Cord Injury

Pain Medicine Consultants

Pain Specialists & Spine Specialists located in Corte Madera, CA - Pleasanton, CA - Pleasant Hill, CA

Chronic pain from a spinal cord injury can change your life physically and emotionally. The compassionate, caring team at Pain Medicine Consultants offers the latest innovative treatment options to manage your pain and enhance your quality of life. The pain management experts at the Pleasant Hill, Pleasanton, and Marin County, California, locations can effectively address the root cause of your pain with treatments like nerve blocks and spinal stimulation. Find out which treatment is right for you by calling the Pain Medicine Consultants location nearest you.

Spinal Cord Injury Q & A

What is a spinal cord injury?

A spinal cord injury occurs when any part of the spinal cord becomes damaged. It can also happen if you injure the nerves at the end of your spinal canal.

Spinal cord injuries can result from a sudden blow to the spine that causes damage to your vertebrae, such as fractures or dislocations. Cord injuries also include situations where an object penetrates your body and cuts the cord, such as a knife wound.

Common causes of spinal injuries include:

Falls
Violence
Diseases
Sports injuries
Auto accidents

As a result, you can experience changes in how your body functions and moves, or how strong it is, below the injury site. In many cases, these changes are permanent.

What are common signs of a spinal cord injury?

If you’ve suffered trauma to the spinal cord, you may not know you have a spinal cord injury right away. Symptoms, like numbness or paralysis, may come on gradually until you’re unable to move or control functions below the injury site.

In what’s known as a complete injury, you may lose all control of movement below the site of the injury. With an incomplete injury, you may still have some motor functionality and sensation below the injured part of the spine.

Other common signs of a spinal cord injury may include:

Loss of movement
Sexual dysfunction
Difficulty breathing
Intense pain sensations
Loss of bladder and bowel control
Inability to feel touch, warmth, or cold

In some cases, you may also experience spontaneous muscle spasms or reflexes you can’t control.

What treatment options are available for spinal cord injuries?

Treatment for injuries to the spine depends on the location of the injury and the severity of your symptoms. The medical team at Pain Medicine Consultants creates customized care plans to ensure your comfort and prevent additional medical complications. They tailor each plan to meet your specific needs.

Your plan may include one or more of the following pain management options:

Medications
Acupuncture
Biofeedback
Nerve blocks
Spinal cord stimulation
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)

If you experience spontaneous muscles spasms that interfere with your life, your Pain Medicine Consultants provider may also recommend Botox® injections to relax the muscle and reduce the frequency or severity of spasms.

If you’ve suffered a spinal cord injury, call today for a consultation with the pain management experts at Pain Medicine Consultants or use the convenient online booking feature.

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