Doctors perform nearly 800,000 knee replacement surgeries each year in the United States, helping people relieve severe pain and restore knee function and mobility. While those benefits are hard to deny, recovering from knee surgery can be painful, and finding a way to relieve that pain without relying on large doses of medications is important.
Superior Pain Relief offers an innovative, state-of-the-art pain management therapy called iovera° to block pain signals at the source. In this post, Zaid Malik, MD, and his team provide an overview of iovera° so you can learn how it can help you enjoy a more comfortable and more productive post-surgery recovery period.
Knee replacement surgery can be life-changing for many of the millions of Americans suffering from chronic knee pain caused by injury, arthritis, or another degenerative disease. Typically, joint replacement surgery is only recommended when more conservative treatment options, like medication or physical therapy, fail to provide adequate symptom relief.
When people have knee surgery, they expect their surgery to relieve their painful symptoms. What they may not expect is the discomfort that’s involved during their healing and recovery journey.
Medication is one way to keep pain under control, but many pain medicines come with side effects, like constipation, upset stomach, or drowsiness. Worse, taking pain medicines for a long time or in higher doses increases the risk of dependency and addiction. Plus, medication isn’t medically appropriate for everyone.
Iovera° is an innovative pain-relief therapy that avoids the use of medication, instead focusing on targeted cold energy. When applied to nerve tissue, cold energy creates tiny wounds or lesions that temporarily deaden or disable nerves, a process called cryoneurolysis.
We apply cold energy via a cryoprobe, a special medical probe designed specifically to emit intense cold. The freezing action prevents the nerve from sending pain signals from the site of pain to your brain, an approach to pain management also known as cryoanalgesia. Effects can last for months, and we can repeat the treatment if needed.
While the powerful pain relief that iovera° provides can improve your postop experience, we may also recommend treatment prior to surgery to speed recovery and improve comfort immediately after your procedure.
After surgery, iovera° treatment can make it easier for you to actively participate in physical therapy for faster healing. And of course, knowing there’s a safe, effective, non-opioid solution for your pain can relieve a lot of the anxiety you might feel about knee surgery and recovery.
Your treatment session takes about 30 minutes and requires no anesthesia. During the iovera° procedure, Dr. Malik inserts a special needle-like probe near the nerves responsible for your pain. The probe delivers the special freezing agent to deaden nerves and relieve your symptoms.
Afterward, you can expect little to no downtime — while you’re likely to experience some minor and temporary swelling in the injection area, that clears up quickly. The special probe is designed to target only the nerve tissue while leaving surrounding tissue unharmed.
Best of all, most people experience pain relief immediately after their treatment, with results lasting for months afterward. And because it’s drug-free, it’s a good choice for just about anyone.
Knee replacement can make a huge difference in your life, helping you be more active and mobile without painful symptoms. To learn how iovera° can help you during recovery, request an appointment online or over the phone with Dr. Malik and the team at Superior Pain Relief in Baytown, Willis, and The Woodlands, Texas.
