AbilenePain 325-326-3433Call or text
Patient experience
What it is like to be our patient.
From your first phone call through long-term follow-up. Our approach is interventional — image-guided treatment aimed at the source of your pain, measured by the function and quality of life it gives back.
Our approach
We treat pain to give you your life back — not just to lower a number.
Abilene Pain is an interventional practice. We use image-guided procedures to target the specific joint, disc, or nerve generating your pain — so the goal is something you can measure: walking farther, sleeping through the night, working again, picking up a grandchild. Function and quality of life are how we judge every treatment we recommend.
Treat the source
We confirm what is generating your pain before we treat it, then deliver treatment precisely there under image guidance — rather than managing the symptom from a distance.
Restore function
Every plan starts with what you cannot do right now and want back. That goal — not a pain score alone — is what we measure at each follow-up.
Protect quality of life
Minimally invasive, same-day procedures with fewer long-term trade-offs — so relief does not come at the cost of how you feel the rest of the day.
Part one
Your first visit
Most new patients come to us by referral from their primary care provider or a specialist. Once that referral and your records arrive, we call you to schedule. Your first appointment is an evaluation, not a procedure — we listen, examine, review your imaging, and explain what we believe is causing your pain.
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What to bring
- Photo ID and your insurance card
- A current list of medications, including doses
- Recent imaging reports — MRI, CT, or X-ray — or the facility that has them
- Names of other physicians involved in your care
- If you have an implanted device — spinal cord stimulator, pain pump, pacemaker, or defibrillator — bring the card and the remote or charger
- Your new patient packet if you completed it ahead of time — and if you were not able to, that is fine; we will have printed forms for you to fill out when you arrive
Wear comfortable clothing that lets us examine the painful area. If a same-day diagnostic injection is planned, our staff tells you in advance whether you need a driver.
Four questions we will ask
Where is the pain, and where does it travel?
What makes it better, and what makes it worse?
What have you already tried — therapy, medication, injections, surgery?
What are you unable to do now that you want to do again?
That last question matters most. Function is how we measure whether treatment is working.
Part two
Ongoing care
Pain care is rarely one appointment. Here is how the rest of it works — procedure days, recovery, follow-up, and how to reach us when something changes.
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Part three
Insurance & billing
We accept most major insurance plans, including Medicare, TRICARE, and commercial plans. We do not accept Medicaid. Many interventional procedures require prior authorization — our staff obtains it for you before your procedure is scheduled, and we tell you what your plan indicates you will owe.
- Copays and deductibles are collected at the time of service
- We verify benefits before every procedure, not only at your first visit
- Ask us about payment arrangements — we would rather plan than surprise you
Call 325-326-3433 to verify your specific plan and benefits before your visit.
What we ask of you
A two-way agreement
- Tell us the whole story, including what has not worked
- Let us know when a treatment does not help — that is information, not failure
- Give us 24 hours' notice if you cannot make an appointment
- Keep one pharmacy and one pain provider, so your care stays coordinated
- Ask questions until the plan makes sense to you
In return: honesty about what we can and cannot fix, and the time it takes to explain it.
Part four
Reducing your need for medication
Our goal is to reduce your need for pain medication. Because we treat the source of the pain directly, an interventional plan can often lower the amount of medication you need — and in some cases remove the need for it altogether. Where medication still has a role, it supports that plan rather than replacing it.
How we think about it
We are an interventional practice, so our first question is always whether a procedure can treat what is actually generating your pain. When it can, patients frequently find they need less medication than before — sometimes none — because the problem itself is being addressed rather than covered.
Medication can still have a legitimate role, and we are not going to leave you in pain out of principle. But it is a supporting measure — used deliberately, at the lowest amount that lets you function, and always alongside a plan aimed at needing less of it over time.
If you are already taking pain medication when you come to us, nothing changes abruptly. We review it together and look for interventional options that may let you reduce it — at a pace that makes sense for you, not on a schedule imposed on you.
Read: opioids and chronic pain ↓What we look at together
- The diagnosis — what is actually generating your pain
- What has been tried already, and how well it worked
- Whether a procedure could treat the source and reduce what you need to take
- Your history, other medications, and safety considerations
- The function you want back, and what actually moves you toward it
- How we will know it is helping, and when to revisit the plan
If medication is part of your plan, we will walk through the practical details — pharmacy, refills at scheduled visits, and periodic review — and revisit whether you still need it as your treatment progresses.
Common questions