We treat spine pain (stenosis, herniated disc, facet and SI joint pain), sciatica, and nerve pain, including diabetic neuropathy and CRPS. We treat head and neck pain, including cluster headache and migraine. And we treat whole-body, cancer and post-accident pain. The list is sorted by what hurts. That is how you arrive here — with a symptom, not with a procedure in mind.
Below are the conditions we treat, grouped by where the problem sits. Each links to a fuller page on what it is, how it shows up, and how it gets diagnosed. From there you can reach the treatments that apply. If what you have is not listed, do not assume we cannot help. It is a reason to call.
Six starting points, written for people who have a symptom, not a diagnosis:
“Back pain” is a symptom, not a diagnosis. Several different structures cause pain that feels alike from the outside. But each needs a totally different treatment. These pages cover each one.
Worn joints and tendons that keep failing after therapy and cortisone are treated with orthobiologics. These use your own platelets, bone marrow cells or fat, placed under image guidance.
Nerve pain acts differently from tissue pain. It burns, shoots or feels electric. It often shows up where nothing looks damaged. And it rarely responds to anti-inflammatories. It has to be recognized as nerve pain before anything sensible can be done about it.
A treatment option specific to diabetic nerve pain: when medicine and metabolic care have not brought it under control, we use the NS-100. It is an FDA-cleared Class II programmable peripheral electrical nerve stimulator. It is placed on nerve branches at the ear and acts as a vagal stimulator. It is worn for up to 30 days, uses no sedation, and has no activity limits. See peripheral nerve stimulation.
Some pain does not stay in one place, or has stopped acting like an injury. It is often driven centrally — the nervous system itself has become the amplifier. That is a real, physical process, and it changes what works.
We find the cause before we treat it. That order is on purpose.
The exam comes first, and it tells us more than most patients expect. Specific moves stress specific structures and narrow the field a lot. Imaging is read against your symptoms, not on its own. Wear-and-tear findings are common in people with no pain at all. A scan that does not match the complaint is a trap, not an answer.
When the source is still unclear, a diagnostic block settles it. A small amount of numbing drug is placed precisely, under ultrasound or fluoroscopic guidance. Either the pain goes away for a while or it does not. That is a test with an answer. It is what separates a treatment plan from a string of guesses.
For the framework behind all of this, see how pain is classified and why the category changes the treatment.
Chronic pain does not sit apart from the rest of your body. High blood sugar changes how nerves carry signals and heal. Poor sleep lowers pain thresholds in ways we can measure. Inflammation, thyroid function and poor nutrition all change how pain is made and felt.
This practice treats those drivers along with the structural problem. We do not refer them elsewhere and hope. Some plans treat only the mechanical finding, in a patient whose metabolism is driving the problem. Those plans tend to cause the exact pattern people describe when they arrive here: treatments that worked briefly and then stopped.
Call. The list above shows the pages written so far, not the limits of the practice. Pain that has lasted more than six weeks without clearly getting better is worth a specialist’s opinion, whatever it is called. Finding the label is part of our job. You do not need it before you book.
If you are deciding whether it is time, our page on choosing a pain specialist explains when it is worth going and what to ask. And whether you need a referral answers the question that holds most people back.
No. Coming without one is normal. Finding it is the work of the first visit. See what to expect from pain management in St. Louis.
This is common, and it does not mean the pain is imagined. Nerve pain, centrally driven pain and several joint problems are all invisible on standard imaging. So the diagnosis has to come from the exam and diagnostic blocks instead. Read why medications and surgery may not fix pain.
Yes. We treat headache syndromes, nerve problems, joint pain, organ and cancer pain, and pain after injury. The spine is the largest group, not the only one.
No. You do not need a referral to be seen, and you do not need to be a current patient. Same-day appointments are available for sudden pain.
Yes. The practice is licensed in Missouri and Illinois and sees patients from across the Metro East. See pain management for Illinois patients.
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Same-day and emergency appointments are available.