Chronic pain significantly affects a person’s quality of life to an extent that even simple undertakings seem impossible. When traditional pain management methods fall short, patients often seek alternative solutions. Pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) is a modern treatment usually considered in such cases.
What Is PRF?
Pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) is a type of pain management known for its enhanced safety, efficiency, and effectiveness. Instead of causing permanent nerve damage, PRF only changes the transmission of painful signals using electromagnetic pulses for some period. This means that it can be used with less invasiveness in patients who suffer from chronic pains, giving them another chance at life without the possible threat of damaging nerves permanently.
PRF changes or modulates the way pain signals are sent by nerves to the brain via mild electromagnetic pulses. It is preferred because no destructive interventions are needed to achieve effective pain relief.
How Does PRF Work?
Think about nerve pathways in your body as intricate highway systems: they carry pain signals like cars zipping through roads to reach your brain. PRF slows down these cars rather than blocking off the road completely. This method focuses on modulation rather than destruction.
Instead of continuously sending heat waves into the nerve, as radiofrequency ablation (RFA) does, pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) delivers short bursts of energy. This method modulates nerve function without destroying the nerve tissue. The energy used in PRF is lower in temperature compared to RFA, which helps to tone down how the nerve transmits pain signals, resulting in a numbing effect.
PRF is a modulating treatment that alters how these messages reach the human mind via the nerve. Applying PRF to realise pain relief without creating a lesion changes the function of this nerve. This allows preservation of the overall structure of nerves, leading to lesser chances of unintentional damage and making PRF an option for sensitive or crucial sections.
What Are the Benefits of PRF?
PRF has several benefits, making it an ideal option for managing chronic pains. Firstly, it’s not as invasive as other treatments that often destroy nerve tissues. Unlike aggressive interventions, PRF does not harm the body through nerve destruction.
The second advantage is that PRF can be applied selectively. Under imaging like fluoroscopy guidance, electromagnetic pulses can be directed precisely to their target areas, minimising effects on surrounding tissues while maximising analgesia. This application precisely aids in releasing growth factors and clot formation for wound healing and tissue regeneration purposes.
Conditions Treated by PRF
These conditions can be effectively treated with pulsed radiofrequency (PRF):
- Cancer-related pain
- Peripheral neuropathies
- Headaches and migraines
- Chronic neck and back pain
- Complex regional pain syndrome
What Results Can You Expect?
Pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) has varying impacts on pain:
Varied Response
While many patients obtain good responses to their treatments, this may differ depending on what one is suffering from as well as each person’s body’s reaction towards medication. For some people, they get complete relief, while others will just have lower levels of pain compared to before the treatment.
Duration of Relief
The outcome of pulsed radiofrequency depends on nerve healing, requiring some patients to undergo repeat sessions. How long the relief will last depends on the treatment conditions and how an individual responds to that therapy. This is maintained by releasing growth factors that encourage regenerative effects, leading to prolonged pain-free periods.
Final Thoughts
Pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) is good for chronic pain management. PRF achieves effective analgesia, volumetrically modulating nerve signals with weak electromagnetic pulses, using its own regenerative potentials through platelet concentrate instead of invasive procedures.
Should you require a holistic management plan for your chronic pain condition, Total Pain Specialist Clinic can help. Our Singapore-based facility gives individualised care that meets your unique needs, leveraging modern techniques, including pulsed radiofrequency therapy (PRF).
Don’t hesitate to contact us so you can make arrangements towards a life without chronic pain.
Total Pain Specialist