Florissant is one of the largest cities in north St. Louis County and has no interventional pain practice of its own. Patients usually travel south or west. Our two offices are among the closest options — 4477 Woodson in St. Louis and 12174 Natural Bridge Rd, each about eight miles from central Florissant.
From central Florissant, most people take Lindbergh Boulevard south to I-170 for the Woodson office. For Natural Bridge, take Lindbergh south to Natural Bridge Road, then head west. That skips the interstate entirely. Which office you are booked into depends on what is being done that day. You will be told when the visit is made.
Most patients from Florissant have already had imaging and have already been told what the scan shows. A scan is a starting point, not a verdict. Lots of people with no pain at all have disc changes on MRI. And plenty of people in real pain have normal-looking scans.
What settles it is an exam and, when it fits, a diagnostic block. If numbing one nerve reliably takes the pain away, that nerve is the source. Then a longer-lasting treatment aimed at it makes sense. If it does not, we have learned something just as useful. And we have not locked you into a procedure that was never going to help.
Florissant runs older than the county average. In that group, this is the condition that most often gets missed.
A vertebral compression fracture is a collapse of a spine bone weakened by osteoporosis. It does not take a fall. In bone that is porous enough, a cough, a sneeze, lifting a bag of groceries or just sitting down hard can do it. There is no dramatic injury to point to. So the pain is often blamed on arthritis or a strain and left to settle.
The signs to take seriously: back pain that changes suddenly, not slowly. Pain that is much worse standing or walking and eased by lying flat. A loss of height you can measure. And a growing forward curve of the upper back.
Timing is the biggest factor in whether treatment works. Kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty steady the broken bone with bone cement, and many patients feel real improvement within a day or two. But a fracture that has already healed in a collapsed shape usually does not respond. That is why an MRI is used to check whether the fracture is still active before the procedure is advised.
One more point, because it often goes unsaid: a first compression fracture sharply raises the risk of another. Cementing the broken bone does nothing to strengthen the bone around it. Checking and treating the osteoporosis underneath is part of the care, not an optional extra.
The second pattern we often see from Florissant is knee osteoarthritis that already limits walking. Yet a surgeon does not think it is time for a replacement. That can be due to age, heart risk or weight. Or the joint simply does not look bad enough on imaging yet.
That gap is where a genicular nerve block is worth a talk. The genicular nerves carry pain signals from the knee joint. Blocking them is a test first. If it cuts your pain a lot, genicular radiofrequency ablation can give longer relief by shutting down those same nerves. Neither one changes the arthritis, and we do not claim it does. What they can do is bring back enough function to keep you walking. Then the replacement decision happens on your timeline, not forced by pain.
Medicare is accepted.
It may be. Get it imaged instead of waiting it out — especially if the pain is much worse standing and better lying flat. Treatment works far better on a fresh fracture than an old one.
Whether sudden back pain is a fracture is the subject of Vertebral Compression Fracture: Why a Cough Can Break a Spine — and What Cement Actually Does.
It does not block or complicate later surgery. It is used when a replacement is not yet right or not yet wanted.
Yes. Coverage for each procedure varies, so we check benefits before booking.
Our injections use no sedation, so most patients drive themselves home. You will be told ahead of time which visits need one.
Yes. In bone weakened by osteoporosis, a cough, a sneeze, lifting a bag of groceries or sitting down hard can collapse a spine bone. There is no dramatic injury, so the pain is often blamed on arthritis or a strain. Watch for a sudden change in back pain, pain worse standing and better lying flat, lost height, or a growing forward curve in the upper back.
Both steady a broken spine bone with bone cement, and many patients feel real improvement within a day or two. Timing matters most. A fracture that has already healed in a collapsed shape usually does not respond. That is why an MRI comes first, to confirm the fracture is still active before either procedure is advised.
No. A first compression fracture sharply raises the risk of another. Cementing the broken bone does nothing to strengthen the bone around it. That is why checking and treating the osteoporosis underneath is part of the care here, not an optional extra. Bring it up at your visit even if the fracture itself already feels better.
Call us or request a time. Office details and maps are on the locations page.
Prefer not to fill in a form?
Same-day and emergency appointments are available.