The Rutgers Health Comprehensive Pain Management Center helps patients with many types of complex, acute, and chronic pain. We provide treatments that can minimize pain symptoms and return patients to as much function as possible.

We often treat:

• Cervicogenic headache
  • Headaches caused by irritations often in the neck
• Complex regional pain syndrome
  • A condition that often affects one limb, usually after an injury, that may be due to damage or malfunction of the peripheral and central nervous systems
• Herniated disc
• Myofascial pain
  • Chronic pain in multiple myofascial trigger points (irritable spots around tissue) and fascial (connective tissue) stiffness
• Neuropathic pain
• Post-herpetic neuralgia
  • Nerve pain due to the peripheral nerve damage that results from reactivation of the virus responsible for shingles
• Post-laminectomy syndrome
  • Also known as “failed back syndrome,” the condition includes chronic pain following back surgeries
• Spinal stenosis
  • A narrowing of the spinal column that compresses nerves
• Trigeminal neuralgia
  • Chronic pain that affects the trigeminal nerve, which controls facial sensations and functions, such as biting and chewing

Located at University Hospital in Newark, NJ, the center also specializes in treating patients who have cancer or those who suffer from pain due to post-injury conditions or surgery. In addition to office visits, we are a consulting service for acute and chronic pain patients in University Hospital.

Chronic pain patients often come for follow-up care at the center, after discharge. This continuity of care makes it easier to design treatment plans that meet a patient’s short- and long-term goals.

The treatments we offer include:

• Epidural injections
• Facet joint injections
  • Injections into the facet joints, small joints located between each vertebra, using a local anesthetic and a corticosteroid anti-inflammatory medication, which relieves pain and inflammation
• In-body (indwelling) catheters, such as epidurals
• Intrathecal pump trials
  • A device that delivers medications directly into the space between the spinal cord and the protective sheath around the spinal cord
• Nerve blocks
• Oral or transdermal medications
• Patient controlled analgesia (PCA) pumps
• Radiofrequency ablation
  • A procedure to separate or remove tissue in an affected area by using heat
• Spinal cord stimulation trials
• Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) units

Most treatments at the center focus on eliminating causes of pain. However, if that is not possible, we refocus our goal on symptom management to help patients continue to function at work and home. We work as a team with patients and their families, to create and meet short- and long-term treatment goals.

We also refer patients, as necessary, for alternative techniques such as acupuncture, chiropractic care, biofeedback, and self-hypnosis.

Physicians who serve the center are on the faculty of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, a part of Rutgers University, one of the top research institutions in America. Most are active in teaching and research, and each brings leading-edge knowledge from journals and the classroom to the exam room.

If you or a loved one is experiencing complex, acute, or chronic pain, please make an appointment with the Rutgers Health Comprehensive Pain Management Center today.