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Procedure guides & patient education
Everything to know before your procedure.
These are the same handouts we give in the office — what the procedure is, how it works, and the discharge instructions for afterward: what is normal, what is not, and when to call us. Download one before your visit, or take it home and share it with family. Reading on how pain works and how we approach medication is in Patient Education.
Before your procedure
A checklist you can work through.
Tick these off as you go — they stay checked on this device. Your procedure guide below has the detail specific to what you are having done.
Everyone
- Photo ID and your insurance card
- A current list of your medications, including doses
- If you have an implanted device — spinal cord stimulator, pain pump, pacemaker, or defibrillator — bring the card and the remote or charger
- Comfortable, loose clothing that lets us reach the area being treated
- Read the procedure guide for what you are having done
Two things our office will confirm with you
Sedation
Some procedures include sedation and some do not. If yours does, our office will tell you: nothing to eat or drink after the time we give you, and a licensed driver who stays on site. Do not plan to drive yourself, even if you feel fine afterward. Not sure whether yours includes sedation? Call or text us.
Blood thinners & anti-inflammatories
Whether these need to be held depends on your specific procedure — some do, some do not. Our office will tell you your hold status before your appointment. If you have questions, or you have not been told either way, call or text us as soon as possible — texting is often faster.
Find yours
Which procedure are you scheduled for?
Choose it from the list and we will bring up the right handout, including its discharge instructions. If you are not sure of the exact name, it is on your appointment paperwork — or text us and we will tell you.
Your handout will appear here. Every one of them is also listed by category further down this page.
Reading now ·
Start here
If you are new to interventional pain care, read this first.
Injections & nerve blocks
Image-guided medication delivered precisely where a nerve or joint is inflamed — both to diagnose and to treat.
Lumbar epidural steroid injection
PDF ↓For radiating low back and leg pain from a disc herniation or stenosis.
Cervical epidural steroid injection
PDF ↓For neck pain and arm symptoms from cervical disc or nerve irritation.
Medial branch block
PDF ↓A diagnostic block that confirms whether the facet joints are the source of your pain.
Sacroiliac joint injection
PDF ↓For buttock and posterior pelvic pain from the SI joint.
Joint injections
PDF ↓Shoulder, hip, knee, and other joints — reducing inflammation to restore movement.
Bursa injection
PDF ↓For bursitis around the shoulder, hip, or knee.
Trigger point injection
PDF ↓For tight muscle bands and myofascial pain.
Peripheral nerve block
PDF ↓Targeting a specific nerve outside the spine that carries your pain.
Celiac plexus block
PDF ↓A block of the nerve bundle behind the stomach, used for upper abdominal and pancreatic pain.
Superior hypogastric plexus block
PDF ↓A block for chronic pelvic pain, including pain related to pelvic organs or cancer.
Ganglion impar block
PDF ↓A block for pain in the tailbone, rectal, or perineal area.
Stellate ganglion block
PDF ↓A sympathetic nerve block used for CRPS and certain head, neck, and arm pain.
Radiofrequency ablation
Once a diagnostic block confirms the target, radiofrequency energy quiets the small nerves carrying that pain — typically for six to eighteen months, and repeatable.
Radiofrequency ablation — medial branch
PDF ↓For facet-mediated neck and back pain confirmed by medial branch blocks.
Radiofrequency ablation — peripheral nerve
PDF ↓For knee, hip, and other peripheral nerve pain.
Basivertebral nerve ablation
PDF ↓A one-time treatment for chronic low back pain arising inside the vertebra (vertebrogenic pain).
Neuromodulation
A trial always comes first — you experience the benefit before anything permanent is placed.
Structural procedures
When the mechanical structure itself is generating pain, restoring it is what brings relief.
Botox for chronic migraine
PDF ↓Injections given on a set schedule to reduce the number of headache days each month.
Botox for cervical dystonia
PDF ↓Injections that ease the involuntary neck muscle contraction and pain of cervical dystonia.
Kyphoplasty
PDF ↓Stabilizing a painful vertebral compression fracture and restoring vertebral height.
Interspinous spacer device
PDF ↓A small implant placed between the vertebrae to relieve the leg pain and heaviness caused by lumbar spinal stenosis.
MILD procedure
PDF ↓Minimally invasive lumbar decompression for spinal stenosis — what it is, who benefits, and what recovery looks like.
Regenerative therapies
Using your body's own biology to support healing. We will tell you plainly where the evidence is strong and where it is still developing.
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP)
PDF ↓Concentrated growth factors from your own blood, injected into an injured or arthritic area.
Allograft disc supplementation (VIA Disc)
PDF ↓Donor disc tissue placed into a degenerated disc to supplement what has been lost.
Stem cell therapy
PDF ↓Cellular therapy for cartilage, tendon, and ligament injury — what it is and what it is not.
Reading, not procedure guides
How pain works, how we approach medication, and what the research says.
Background reading for you and your family, useful whether or not you have a procedure scheduled. Read online or download the handout.