PainCare - Pain Management in New Hampshire

By Mark Chag Jr., Staff Writer

"I take all the hardest cases. Where surgery and medications have failed, we have helped," explains Dr. Joshua Greenspan, of PainCare, which has offices in Newington, Somersworth and Merrimack.

Outside of those offices in coastal New Hampshire, one would need to travel across the globe, to Australia, to find another professional who offers Occipital Neuromodulation, because the approach is so novel and groundbreaking.

"But it's not experimental," Dr. Greenspan emphasizes. "It has been tested and proven and is approved by the FDA and approved by Medicare. The technology is tried and true. It’s the application that’s new."

The technology he refers to is a small, implanted medical device that emits an electric impulse, that has been used to treat chronic back pain since the 1960s. What Dr. Greenspan has revolutionized is a technique by which the same device is used, not in the lower torso to target the back, but in the occipital region of the scalp (the back of the head) in order to ease pain anywhere on the body.

How does it work? Often times, following an injury, stroke, or other pain-inducing trauma, the brain reprograms itself to identify pain even when there is no longer any cause for it.

As Dr. Greenspan explains, imagine an ankle injury that has long since healed, but still mysteriously causes chronic pain for the patient. The brain is continuously recognizing that there is an injury, and is indicating that there is pain in the region, causing great discomfort to the patient for no reason. Occipital Neuromodulation puts an end to that pain, by correcting the way the brain recognizes pain.

"It doesn’t block pain," Dr. Greenspan says. "That’s not the objective. If someone puts their hand on a hot stove, they still recognize that it's hot. They will feel pain. Pain is supposed to be an alarm system to let you know something is wrong. In many chronic pain patients, the alarm is broken. It goes off all the time even though nothing is happening. These patients are like a car sitting in the middle of an empty lot with its alarm going off even though no one is touching it. Occipital Neuromodulation corrects the alarm system so that it only goes off when it's supposed to."

One of the incredible benefits of this medical marvel, is that, unlike surgery, it allows patients to try it out in a "trial phase" or "test run," so to speak, before deciding on an implant.

The trial phase involves temporarily placing two electrodes under the skin in the occipital region – the back of the head. There is a tiny incision made in the skin and the electrodes sit just under the surface. They do not travel even close to the brain. The procedure itself takes 5-10 minutes to perform under local anesthesia. Patients go home shortly thereafter. Patients are allowed to keep the electrodes under the skin for one month and then they are removed in the office. During this trial phase, patients can shower and go about their lives. One patient vacationed in Florida and swam in the ocean during a trial phase. When the electrodes are removed, this ends the first stage. The analogy is that of "taking a test drive of a car you're thinking of buying." In this case, you get to take the car home for a month and see how you like it before deciding whether to buy it.

"It's like a month-long vacation from the pain," Dr. Greenspan says.

The statistics he has compiled during the past several years are astonishing, which he reveals by showing the overwhelming success rate his patients have reported, even during the trial phase, as their chronic pain subsides.

Next, if the trial phase is a success, follows a simple insertion of the implant device for long-term relief.

In this stage, the electrodes and battery are placed under the skin much like a cardiac pacemaker, but for pain. Because everything is implanted, patients can perform any vigorous activity, including swimming, lifting weights, and running. It does take surgery to do this, but the patients are asleep during the surgery and they go home the same day. The battery is rechargeable through the skin, and never needs to be removed. An attractive feature of the implanted system is that it is only skin deep. The device can remain for as long as is needed. If the need for it ever ends, it can be removed.

There is no "shock," no "tingling sensation" or otherwise negative side effects of the implant. What patients will notice, however, is the relief from that nagging, chronic pain which may have been lingering for years, causing additional stress on their bodies, personalities, and lives.

Dr. Greenspan moved from New York to New Hampshire three years ago. He was formerly the Director of Pain Management at State University of New York in Brooklyn. He trained doctors how to practice pain management and directed the practice of pain management at three large hospitals.

His decision to move with his wife and four children "out of the big city" to New Hampshire followed an extensive search to find the perfect place to live from "coast to coast." It was the Seacoast region that won them over.

"My wife and I love it here, and our four children are thriving. Not a day goes by when I don't think to myself, 'what a wonderful decision it was to move to New Hampshire,'" Dr. Greenspan says.

Thankfully for residents, he has brought with him a profound expertise in pain management, and particularly through Occipital Neuromodulation, is ready to have patients feeling pain-free and normal again.

If you or someone you know could benefit from this groundbreaking treatment, call PainCare in Newington at 431-3166, or visit the official website at www.painmd.com. The website also features a number of video testimonials from actual patients who have reaped the rewards of ridding themselves finally of chronic pain.

Perhaps you could be next, to live large and lively once again, and pain free at last.