Nerve Injuries Specialist

What is a nerve injury?

Injured nerves occur when nerves are cut or crushed during an injury or surgery. Injured nerves may cause pain, tingling, numbness, or weakness. In rare cases, injury to nerves can also cause a syndrome of swelling, discoloration, joint stiffness and temperature changes known as chronic regional pain syndrome.

Injured nerves may affect any parts of your body where you had an injury or surgery. Pain Management Specialists, through its referring relationships with area surgeons, treats many patients with nerve injuries.

Nerve injury pain is most commonly seen after fractures of the arms or legs, and after chest and abdominal surgeries. 

What are the symptoms of nerve injury?

Nerve injury symptoms vary depending on the location and severity of the injury. Common symptoms include:

• Numbness 
• Localized muscle weakness
• Radiating electric shock-like sensations
• Tingling (paresthesia)
• Sensitivity to touch

Less common symptoms include:

• Swelling 
• Coolness or warmth
• Discoloration
• Joint stiffness
• Thinning of the skin
• Decreased hair growth in the affected area

Injured nerves can sometimes recover with time, if the injury was incomplete. Often, there is some residual pain, numbness or weakness after maximum healing has occurred. Often, pain from an injured nerve is severe, and cannot be easily treated without specialized help.

If your nerve injury symptoms fail to improve with time or conservative treatments, Pain Management Specialists can help. 

How is nerve injury diagnosed?

The physicians at Pain Management Specialists are experts in diagnosing nerve injury.

When you visit for help with your nerve injury, your doctor conducts a thorough evaluation to determine the root cause of your symptoms and the severity of the nerve damage. 

During your exam, your doctor reviews your symptoms, medical history, and the treatments you’ve used to try to alleviate your pain. They perform a physical exam that may include various tests to assess muscle function and nerve sensation.

To confirm or rule out a diagnosis, your interventional pain management physician may request a CT scan, an MRI, or nerve conduction studies. 

How is nerve injury treated?

Pain Management Specialists takes a patient-centered approach to care and creates customized treatment plans that provide the best outcomes. 

Many nerve injury conditions respond well to nerve blocks, medications and physical therapy. Other treatment options include:

• Dorsal root ganglion stimulation
• Spinal cord stimulation
• Neuromodulation
• Pain medicine 
• Radiofrequency ablation 

If interventional pain management therapies fail to alleviate your symptoms, your doctor works closely with top local surgeons to help you get the comprehensive care you need. 

For relief from your nerve injury symptoms, call Pain Management Specialists or book an appointment online today.