Pain Treatment

If you suffer from chronic pain, we know what you’re thinking: Make it stop. We know how to help.

Technically, pain is a sensation triggered by the nervous system. But anyone who has suffered back, neck or joint pain, cancer-related pain, shingles or any other type of chronic pain knows its effects touch every part of daily life.

Pain treatment at Hartford HealthCare addresses the complexities of treating pain with a single purpose: to restore function while providing relief that allows you to resume your normal routine.

Here are some types of pain we treat

• Back and neck pain (including sciatica, spinal stenosis, back surgery, arthritic conditions, pinched nerves and muscle spasms)
• Work injuries
• Cancer pain
• Shingles
• Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD)
• Nerve injury pain
• Joint pain
• Pain from other acute and chronic conditions

New technology continues to improve pain-management treatment

Scrambler therapy for severe, chronic neuropathic pain uses electrodes placed on the skin to block pain signals without drugs or an invasive procedure. The therapy, using a machine developed by Calmare Therapeutics, sends non-pain information via the electrodes to the nerve fibers that have been receiving pain messages.

Spinal cord stimulation, which modifies or blocks nerve activity that otherwise allows pain signals to reach the brain, has been effective for people with chronic leg or arm pain, failed back-surgery syndrome, arachnoiditis (inflammation and scarring of the spinal nerves’ protective layers) and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (a progressive disease of the nervous system).

High-intensity light therapy with the HILT stem laser that doctors can now use to reduce the debilitating pain of shingles, a viral infection, in sessions that last only 10 or 15 minutes.

Low-level energy laser: Applied directly onto the skin or body orifices.

Sphenopalatine ganglion block: A minimally invasive procedure used to treat head and facial pain.

Genomes: Gene-mapping that assists in diagnosing and treating complex patients that are not responding to medications or have significant side effects.

Other non-invasive and minimally-invasive treatments:

For Referring Physicians

Hartford HealthCare prides itself on cultivating relationships with referring providers. This allows us to expand the breadth of personalized and specialized care we provide our patients.

You can find the referral information you need for your patient here:

Acute Care Locations:

	Backus Hospital Backus Hospital includes a not-for-profit, 213-bed hospital in Norwich and numerous off-site locations, including several health centers and the Backus Outpatient Care Center.
	Hartford Hospital Hartford Hospital is an 867-bed Level 1 Trauma Center & regional referral center that provides high-quality care in all clinical disciplines. It is one of the largest teaching hospitals and tertiary care centers in New England.
	The Hospital of Central Connecticut The Hospital of Central Connecticut is a 414-bed, 32-bassinet, acute-care community teaching hospital with campuses in New Britain and Southington.
	MidState Medical Center MidState Medical Center is a 156-bed acute care hospital located in Meriden, Connecticut, with satellite offices in Cheshire, Wallingford and Southington.
	Windham Hospital Windham Hospital is a 130-bed, not-for-profit acute care community hospital providing state-of-the-art comprehensive medical services, personalized attention and care.