Pain management

Spire Leeds Hospital has established a reputation for medical excellence across a broad range of services and this is reflected in the expertise provided by its pain management specialists who treat patients with many types of chronic pain.

Spire Leeds Hospital is one of the region’s largest hospitals for pain medicine treatment and works with a team of 4 consultants in pain medicine.

Our consultants have national and international reputations in neuro-modulation and fitment of spinal implants for the management of pain.

Patients can be seen by a consultant within a matter of days and do not always need a GP referral or a scan result.

We have 4 out-patient clinics each week, Monday to Saturday.

We offer injections for epidural, caudal, facet joint and nerve, transforamenal, radio frequency dorsal root. Also available: radio frequency denervation, acupuncture.

The hospital also offers a full physiotherapy service to support patients during treatment.

Our team can help advise patients about which specialty to be referred for pain management; pain medicine, neurosurgery (spinal and neck), orthopaedic spinal surgery, physiotherapy, rheumatology, musculoskeletal or others.

Why do we have pain?

Pain can be a sign that something in our body is wrong. There are various types of pain that can differ in the parts of the body that they affect. The intensity of the pain and its duration can also vary. In addition, the way we react to pain is very personal and can vary significantly from person to person.

Acute pain

Acute pain is usually caused by something easily identifiable such as an injury, occurs suddenly and lasts for a short period of time. Many forms of acute pain indicate an underlying problem and the treatment of this problem will relieve the pain. This is obvious in conditions such as broken bones, appendicitis etc.

Appropriate diagnosis and management is the key to relieving acute pain. The drugs that can help acute pain are painkillers like paracetamol, anti-inflammatory drugs like Ibuprofen and other drugs like codeine; severe acute pain may need stronger drugs such as morphine.

Chronic pain

Pain lasting for three months or more and recurring over long periods is regarded as chronic pain. This can sometimes occur even after the initial acute problem has been properly treated. Chronic pain can occur anywhere in your body ranging from mild discomfort to very severe pain that can impede your day-to-day activities. Early detection, assessment and appropriate management could prevent much chronic pain.

So that we can provide appropriate pain management, it is important that your pain is fully assessed by a practitioner in pain medicine so that the correct treatments can be recommended. Evidence suggests that early treatment is important in preventing chronic pain.

Common chronic pain conditions