UC San Diego Health offers the most advanced pain treatment options available in a compassionate and supportive environment. Whether your pain is caused by arthritis, fibromyalgia, sciatica, neuropathy, another condition or an unknown cause, we have pain specialists who can help reduce or eliminate your pain.
Center of Excellence
UC San Diego Health is recognized as a Clinical Center of Excellence in Pain Management by the American Pain Society. This is the highest recognition possible in pain management. You have come to the right place for comprehensive, expert care for pain.
When to See a Pain Specialist
If you have chronic pain, you should first talk to your primary care physician about your condition. If you don't respond to standard treatment approaches, such as analgesics, steroid injections and physical therapy, you can ask your physician for a referral to a pain specialist. You cannot self-refer to our clinic.
Conditions Treated
We treat all types of chronic pain, including but not limited to:
- Back pain
- Joint and muscular-skeletal pain
- Abdominal and pelvic pain
- Headache
- Fibromyalgia
- Chronic pain syndrome
- Neuropathic pain
- Refractory cancer-related pain
We also offer pre-operative pain consults for patients with chronic pain or a previous history of post-operative pain. These services require referral from your UC San Diego Health surgeon.
Comprehensive Approach
Chronic pain can have a profound influence on your physical, mental and spiritual well-being and often chronic pain exists without an obvious root biological cause. Because of this, we employ a multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary approach to pain management. This means your care team may include medical specialists from diverse fields, who together comprehensively address your pain issues.
Personalized Care Plan
Your care plan is tailored to your specific situation and needs. Whenever possible your care team will use conservative approaches and emphasize healthy living as a cornerstone of your personalized care plan. Most of our patients are encouraged to exercise regularly, eat a healthy diet and maintain or attain mental well-being.
Complementary or Alternative Medicine
For some individuals, alternative medicine can provide some pain relief. We offer:
- Acupressure
- Osteopathic manipulation
- Referral to UC San Diego Health's mindfulness training and stress reduction programs
Medications for Pain
Chronic pain can be exacerbated by anxiety and can also interfere with sleep. For these reasons, your treatment plan may include:
- Anti-depressant or anti-anxiety medications
- Sleep medications
- Medical marijuana
Opioid use is discouraged or minimized in most but not all situations.
Injections
We offer many types of fluoroscopy and image-guided injections to alleviate or block pain, including:
- Steroid injections
- Epidurals for nerve root compression
-
Nerve blocks
- Ultrasound-guided injections for musculoskeletal pain
- Botulinum toxin injections
- Hyaluronic joint injections
- Regenerative medicine injections
Nerve Ablations / Denervation
If your pain persists, nerve ablations may provide relief. We offer:
Implantable Therapies
If you have severe pain, you may be a candidate for an implantable therapy, including:
- Intrathecal “pain” pump, in which medications are delivered directly to the spinal cord
- Spinal cord stimulation implant, which use electrical currents to control or relieve pain
- Intrathecal baclofen (a muscle relaxer) for severe spasticity
- Dorsal root ganglion (DRG) stimulation implant for lower limb pain
Candidates for these more invasive procedures are carefully screened.