Understanding Your Pain
How Pain Treatment Works
Once you understand the mechanisms of pain, the purpose of each treatment becomes clear.
| Treatment | What It Does | Which Type of Pain? |
|---|---|---|
| Anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) | Reduce inflammation and decrease pain signals | Mainly nociceptive pain |
| Nerve medications (e.g., pregabalin) | Calm abnormal nerve excitability | Neuropathic pain |
| Descending inhibition boosters (e.g., duloxetine) | Strengthen the brain's pain-suppression pathway to the spinal cord | Chronic pain, neuropathic pain |
| Nerve block injections | Temporarily stop signals in a specific nerve | Both types |
| Surgery (decompression) | Physically remove the pressure on the nerve | Pain caused by compression |
| Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) | Deliver electrical stimulation to the spinal cord, making it harder for pain signals to reach the brain | Neuropathic pain, chronic pain |
Each treatment works at a different point along the pain pathway.