New tools helping ease chronic pain as doctors shift away from opioids

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — If you think chronic pain is nothing to worry about, think again. It can come in the form of neck, back, head, joint or muscle pain.

“You can’t walk on the treadmill. You can’t go up the stairs. I have a two-story house,” said Robin Czahoroski. “I was always active with my kids and all of a sudden it just stopped.”

Czahoroski has been suffering from chronic pain for years following a fall after undergoing knee replacement surgery in 2016.

“You’re on the opioids . You’re not really clear-headed all the time,” said Czahoroski.

According to the U.S. Pain Foundation, 50 million American adults, roughly 20% of the population, live with chronic pain. In addition, chronic pain is the leading cause of long-term disability in the United States and at least 10% of all suicide cases involve someone with chronic pain. Nationally, around $635 billion is spent each year on chronic pain.

“It’s typically pain that persists after three to six months,” said Dr. James Choo with Pain Consultants of East Tennessee.

Choo has been treating chronic pain and its many variations for almost two decades. He told 6 News, that while there is no cure, recent advancements are making a huge impact.

“When I first started 17 years ago in pain, we were basically applying little band-aids to certain painful conditions. Steroids shots here, maybe some medications. But now, in the past several years, we’re seeing a lot of research that has been percolating for 15 years and is now just coming out to the forefront,” said Choo.

One such procedure involves tiny wires, a receiver and a generator. It’s better known as a Peripheral Nerve Stimulator.

“Basically what the wires are doing is saying, ‘Hey nerves, stop working. Stop sending pain signals’,” said Choo. “This procedure may take 25 minutes to do, three little staples across the incision and now she can wear that generator on top of the receiver.”

The procedure has allowed patients, like Czahoroski, the opportunity to do the things they had been deprived of due to their chronic pain.

“I can do Dollywood, I can do the treadmill, I can do the staircase without a problem,” said Czahoroski. “I don’t feel pain in it at all.”

That’s good news, not just for those like Czahoroski who have endured long-term pain, but it’s advancements in other areas as well.

“So, now I see a major shift in the way doctors prescribe,” said Choo. “We’re seeing it here where there’s a general reluctance and a real desire to not write opioids anymore. To have so many more tools in our hands to help with these painful conditions that are working better than your standard steroid shots and opioids, it has been really, really fun to see how these novel procedures are often quick and minimally invasive.”

As far as insurance coverage goes, there is still work to be done. However, for older patients who typically suffer more from chronic pain, there is some good news as Medicare has become more open to covering these new types of procedures.

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