By Nickolas Rhoades, APRN; Shelle Schumacher, PA-C; and Ji Li, MD, Applied Pain Institute
Dealing with lower back pain? You’re not alone. Chronic lower back pain affects more than half a billion people worldwide and is the leading cause of disability. From muscle strains, disc tears, arthritis, ligamentous thickening, and even bone inflammation, the causes of back pain are many and varied and seem to be increasing in prevalence. Thankfully, so is the development of new treatments. Two new treatments which have grown in popularity due to their simplicity, low risk, and successful outcomes are the MILD and the Intracept procedure.
The MILD procedure is an acronym for Minimally Invasive Lumbar Decompression and is a treatment for lower back pain caused by spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal cord) due to thickening of the ligamentum flavum (a ligament that runs along your spinal cord). This condition is associated with pain radiating to the buttocks and/or leg(s), with or without numbness or tingling. It will worsen with activities such as standing and walking, and improves with resting, sitting, and/or leaning over a shopping cart, also known as neurogenic claudication. The MILD procedure is an outpatient, needle-based procedure. The procedure reduces the thickness of the ligament, improving the stenosis of the spinal canal and resulting in a 50% improvement of pain and greater ability to stand for longer periods of time and walk for longer distances. MILD recipients are able to resume normal activities within 24 hours without restrictions. Risks are very minimal, much like an epidural steroid injection, including bleeding, infection, and mild post-procedural pain.
The Intracept procedure treats lower back pain originating from the L3 to S1 vertebral bones of the spine caused by inflammatory changes, also known as modic changes. These modic changes cause chronic lower back pain, which is often worse with activity such as sitting, bending, and lifting. The Intracept procedure is a needle-based radiofrequency ablation of the basivertebral nerve, a nerve which resides inside of the vertebral body and is responsible for receiving and transmitting pain signals from modic changes. The ablation uses heat and radiofrequency waves to permanently degenerate the nerve, and therefore the cessation of pain signal transmission. A majority of patients can expect a 50% improvement of their pain from this procedure with improved functional ability, and even more exciting is that approximately a third of those patients have 100% relief by two years. It is also an outpatient procedure, with the majority of patients resuming normal activity within several days. There is minimal risk of bleeding, infection, and mild post-procedural pain, similar to the MILD procedure.
Both the MILD and Intracept procedure are non-invasive, outpatient procedures that provide great outcomes with minimal risk and burden to the patient struggling with chronic lower back pain. In addition, both of these procedures are covered by Medicare and some commercial insurance.
If you or someone you know is looking for new treatment options for their lower back pain, and believe the MILD or Intracept procedure might be the answer, please contact Applied Pain Institute at 309-662-0088 to establish an appointment for a consultation. Their office is located at 1015 S. Mercer in Bloomington. Dr Li and his medical team have many years of successful experience managing all pain syndromes.