If you or a loved one is living with chronic pain, the pain management physicians at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital can help. We specialize in nonnarcotic pain management for all types of chronic pain, including back pain, neuropathy and joint pain.
What Is Chronic Pain?
Pain is a normal sensation in the nervous system that tells you when something is wrong, such as an illness or injury. Nerves transmit pain signals from the location of the problem to the brain.
Acute pain is important. It tells you how severe an injury may be so you can get the right care. As your body heals, acute pain usually goes away.
Sometimes, pain continues long after the original problem has healed — or you experience pain without having had a previous injury or illness. Pain becomes chronic when it lasts for three months or longer. It can be mild or severe and can be constant or come and go. Chronic pain symptoms can be:
- Burning or stinging
- Dull and aching
- Shooting or electrical
- Sore, tight or stiff
- Throbbing
Types of Chronic Pain We Treat
At our Pain Management Center, we treat all kinds of pain, regardless of the cause. Common pain conditions we see include:
Neck and back pain
One of the most common causes of chronic pain is back and neck pain. Sharp pain or dull aches can result from injury, strain, poor posture, wear and tear or many other reasons. We treat pain all along the spine, from the top of your neck to your tailbone, including:
- Degenerative disc disease: Vertebrae (spine bones) that rub together as the discs (rubbery tissue between vertebrae) wear out due to age or injury
- Facet joint syndrome: Damage to facet joints (connections between vertebrae) due to injury, disc deterioration or wear and tear
- Failed back syndrome: Back pain that returns after surgery
- Herniated disc: A disc that breaks open (ruptures) or moves out of place due to injury or strenuous activity
- Radiculopathy (pinched nerve): A damaged or compressed nerve root in the spine, causing pain and other symptoms in various areas of the body depending on where it develops
- Sciatica: Radiculopathy that develops in the low back
- Spinal stenosis: A narrowed area of the spinal canal that causes pain due to compression of the spinal cord or nerve roots
Nerve-related pain
Neuropathy, also called neuralgia, is nerve damage that causes pain, tingling, numbness and muscle weakness. Nerve-related pain can result from injury or conditions such as diabetes and atherosclerosis. Some common types of neuropathy include:
- Complex regional pain syndrome: Chronic pain, usually in one limb, due to a problem with pain nerves that sometimes develops after an injury
- Peripheral neuropathy: Neuropathy that affects nerves outside the brain and spinal cord, most commonly in the legs and feet; includes diabetic neuropathy
- Postherpetic neuralgia: Nerve damage that develops after shingles, a viral infection that causes a blistering rash, usually on one side of the torso
Joint and muscle pain
Musculoskeletal pain affects bones, muscles and connective tissue such as cartilage, ligaments and tendons. The most common causes of this pain are arthritis and injury. Musculoskeletal pain that we treat includes:
- Joint pain: Inflammation (pain and swelling) in major joints such as the hip, knee and shoulder
- Malignant compression fractures: Fractures in vertebrae that result from cancerous tumors, usually metastatic (tumors that start in another part of the body and spread to the vertebrae)
- Benign compression fractures: Vertebral fractures typically due to osteoporosis, a condition that causes bones to become weak and brittle
- Sacroiliac (SI) joint pain: Pain in the low back and buttocks due to arthritis, injury or another problem with the SI joint
Cancer-related pain
Pain can result from cancer or its treatments — even after treatment, in some cases. If you have pain during or after active treatment, we can help:
- Relieve pain from cancer itself, especially if the cancer is advanced
- Relieve pain due to cancer treatments, such as surgery, radiation therapy or chemotherapy
- Manage chronic pain after cancer
Other types of chronic pain
At Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital, our pain specialists can provide relief for any type of pain you may have. We can treat:
- Abdominal pain: Belly pain due to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), irritable bowel syndrome and other gastrointestinal disorders
- Arthritis: Joint inflammation (pain, swelling and stiffness)
- Headaches: Head pain including migraine and cervicogenic headache, caused by neck problems
- Jaw pain: Pain caused by the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and in the muscles that control jaw movement
- Pain caused by shingles: Pain where the shingles rash occurs
- Pelvic pain: Pain related to problems in the reproductive organs or urinary tract
- Postsurgical pain: Pain during recovery from surgery
Chronic Pain: Treatment and Diagnosis
Our pain medicine experts specialize in the latest advances for chronic pain management, with a focus on nonnarcotic strategies. Learn more about:
Office Location at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital
Pain Management Center, a member of BJC HealthCare
1044 N. Mason Road, Suite L30
Medical Office Building 4
Creve Coeur, MO 63141
Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital is conveniently located just one mile west of I-270 in Creve Coeur, Missouri — a west county suburb of St. Louis.
Get directions and maps.
Contact Us for Pain Management
To learn more or to schedule an appointment with one of our physicians who specializes in pain management, please call 314.542.WEST (9378) or toll-free at 844.542.WEST (9378). You’ll need a referral from your physician to schedule an appointment.
Before your appointment, please download, print and fill out this new patient packet (PDF).
If you need to change or cancel your appointment, you can do so through MyChart or by calling your physician’s office directly. See our phone directory for additional phone numbers.
For Direct Patient Transfers
Referring physicians can call the BJC Transfer Center at 800.252.DOCS (3627) 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also visit our referring physicians page.