Helping you conquer pain
By providing the right diagnostic insights, comprehensive medical strategies and advanced treatments, our center can dramatically reduce pain and suffering.
Helping you conquer pain
By providing the right diagnostic insights, comprehensive medical strategies and advanced treatments, our center can dramatically reduce pain and suffering.
Our Program
The USC Pain Center has an exceptional team of pain specialists who assess and treat patients with complex and refractory pain problems. Patients with chronic pain or cancer-related pain receive comprehensive assessments and individualized treatment plans that draw from a range of pain medicine, biobehavioral or physical rehabilitation therapies.
Our pain medicine treatments include:
- Pharmacologic consultation, medication and management (novel analgesics, nerve stabilizers — opioids are used only in special circumstances)
- Procedural treatments (nerve blocks, trigger point therapy, neurolysis)
- Implantable technologies, including spinal drug delivery and spinal stimulation
- Electro-medicine (nerve and muscle stimulation)
Our biobehavioral treatments include:
- Psychiatric and psychological care
- Stress management, relaxation training, biofeedback training and coping skills training
- Principles of pain management education
- Health psychophysiology and nutrition education
- Pain support groups and peer education groups
Our physical rehabilitation treatments include:
- Physical therapy
- Occupational therapy
- Training for ongoing self-care
Our Approach
We use the most advanced technology to improve our patients’ physical symptoms and we also work to strengthen their ability to cope with the debilitating effects of pain so they can return to a fully productive life.
Our treatment goals are to:
- Dramatically reduce suffering from pain
- Significantly increase functional capacity
- Return patients to work, vocational rehabilitation and community and family functioning
- Alleviate depression and restore self-confidence and self-esteem
- Increase knowledge and skill in pain and stress management, appropriate exercise and self-care for ongoing independent progress and function
Patient Information
Q:Â Why should I go to a pain management center for my pain?
A:Â Early and aggressive treatment of painful conditions can lead to dramatic differences in eventual outcomes. It is possible to prevent subacute problems from becoming chronic.
Q:Â What are some of the effects of pain?
A:Â Common effects of pain can include:
- Decreased ability to function at home or work
- Depression, frustration, irritability or anger
- Physical debilitation or decreased mobility
- Social isolation or interpersonal problems
- Loss of self-esteem or anxiety
- Sleep disturbances or gastrointestinal problems
- Weight gain or weight loss
- Medication problems (tolerance, dependence, overuse or side effects)
- Financial difficulty or hardship
Q:Â What types of medical problems can cause difficult pain?
A:Â Common examples of painful conditions include:
- Low back pain that has not significantly improved after six weeks of conservative care
- Post-injury pain that has not resolved as the injury healed
- Nerve pain and neuropathy
- Frequent headaches
- Herpes zoster (shingles), especially in older adults who are at risk for developing postherpetic neuralgia