University of Wisconsin Pain Treatment and Research Center

Treatment Options

Rudin with Patient Each Pain Center patient pursues a treatment program tailored to his or her problems and goals. While some programs may emphasize one mode of treatment, most patients’ programs will include several integrated components, including:

Pharmacological treatment

Drug therapy can be targeted to address neuropathic, inflammatory, muscular, arthritic and other types of pain. Infusions and other non-oral means of drug administration are used as needed. Careful follow-up of patients on pain medication is vigorously pursued.

Interventional treatment

Regional problems such as myofascial pain, localized arthropathies, tendonitis and overuse syndromes may be helped by soft-tissue, joint and tendon sheath injections. Epidural steroid injections and sympathetic blocks are also available, along with a variety of image-guided techniques such as selective nerve root block; facet and medial branch block; radiofrequency neuroablation; sympathetic block; pain-control device implantation; and intradiscal techniques.

Rehabilitation and functional restoration

Postural, balance and other biomechanical problems may cause, perpetuate or result from chronic pain. Patients with these deficits may benefit substantially from a custom-designed functional restoration program that may include physical and occupational therapy, psychotherapy, relaxation training, and vocational rehabilitation.

Psychological treatment

To improve insight and problem-solving skills and resolve psychological co-morbidities of chronic pain, patients may require individual or family psychotherapy, group therapy, relaxation training, biofeedback or other methods. The UW Pain Center offers these and other services.

Rudin with patient The intensity of the individual program can be adjusted. Highly motivated rehab patients, for example, may be best suited to a program with instruction on a weekly basis, supplemented by independent work at home. Patients with very complex pain problems, by contrast, are likely to need more concentrated and comprehensive care.

The Pain Center also offers subspecialty programs for back or neck pain, headache, fibromyalgia, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, pre- or post-surgical pain, spinal stenosis, and arthritis.