The pattern is fairly distinctive once you know it. Pain sits in a band across the low back or across the base of the neck. Standing in a queue is worse than walking. Leaning backwards is worse than bending forwards. Getting out of a car or rolling over at night is the moment people describe.
What it is not is pain shooting down to the foot or out to the fingers. That pattern belongs to a nerve root and is treated differently. Sorting one from the other is most of what the first appointment does.
InterQuest at 10807 New Allegiance Drive, off the InterQuest Parkway exit on I-25, is where interventional appointments happen for this city. Academy on North Academy Boulevard and Tenderfoot on Tenderfoot Hill Road handle assessment and the rehabilitation that follows.
For people in Monument, Gleneagle or the north end, InterQuest is closer than the middle of town. For the Powers corridor and the south, it is a run up I-25, and the appointment itself is short enough that the drive is the larger part of the morning.
A thin insulated probe is placed alongside the medial branch nerve and radiofrequency current heats its tip. The heat creates a small, controlled lesion on the nerve so it stops carrying its pain signal. Nothing is cut and nothing is removed.
Because the lesion is small and precise, the position of the probe is checked before any current is applied. That checking is why the appointment takes longer than the treatment itself.
Write down two things: the date, and roughly what proportion of the pain went. Months later, when the ache starts returning, that note is what settles whether a repeat makes sense and when it should be booked.
It also protects you from the opposite mistake. Pain that returns with a different character, or that starts traveling down a leg, is not the old problem coming back and should not be met with a repeat of the same procedure.
No referral is needed to be assessed, and appointments are usually available within the same week. Colorado patients will find most major commercial plans accepted, with most Medicare Advantage plans in network.
When the pain traces back to a crash, the med-pay portion of the auto policy or an attorney lien covers it; work injuries run through the carrier on the claim. Benefits are checked before the appointment so nothing arrives as a surprise afterwards.
Further reading: radiofrequency ablation, and Pain Management in Colorado Springs.
Other Colorado Springs pages by complaint: sciatica treatment in Colorado Springs, herniated disc treatment in Colorado Springs, low back pain treatment in Colorado Springs, neck pain treatment in Colorado Springs, knee pain treatment in Colorado Springs and neuropathy treatment in Colorado Springs. And by procedure: epidural steroid injection in Colorado Springs, spinal cord stimulator in Colorado Springs, kyphoplasty in Colorado Springs (at our surgery center in Denver) and nerve block in Colorado Springs.
Every clinic below has Chiropractic, Physical Therapy, Acupuncture and Pain Management on one chart, so care can move between them without a new referral.
Downtown out through the north, west, south and east suburbs.
Academy, InterQuest and Tenderfoot cover the north, central and south of the city.
Harmony in Fort Collins and our Greeley clinic serve Larimer and Weld counties.
Across the Valley, from the West Valley through Phoenix to the East Valley.
The examination points that way, and a diagnostic block confirms it before an ablation is scheduled.
The skin and the path are numbed first. Most people report pressure and a brief warm sensation rather than sharp pain.
Irritation from the procedure itself. It typically settles within a week, and the benefit appears behind it.
Yes, and both sides at multiple levels where the examination and the block support it.
InterQuest on New Allegiance Drive. Academy and Tenderfoot cover assessment and the Physical Therapy that follows.
Long enough to be worth doing, and it varies by person. Because nerves regrow, this is a procedure with a horizon rather than a permanent fix.
Yes, and the weeks after are the right time to make progress on them, because the joints are finally quiet enough to load properly.
We are in network with most Medicare Advantage plans in Colorado. Call and yours can be confirmed before you come in.
Radiofrequency Ablation is performed in office at our InterQuest clinic. No referral is needed to be evaluated, and appointments are usually available within the same week.
