For many people living with persistent or acute pain, daily life becomes a cycle of limitations - the activities they avoid, the work they struggle to do, the sleep they lose, and the fear that things will only get worse.
Often, next steps feel unclear.
Do I need surgery?
Must I rely on medication forever?
According to Gaylord Specialty Healthcare’s Dr. Annette Macannuco-Winslow, a highly respected Pain Management Specialist with three decades of advanced clinical expertise, there is another option.
“Our goal is to help patients feel, move, and function better without jumping to surgery or opioids,” she says. “Most people don’t want either of those paths, and the good news is many don’t need them.”
That’s the purpose of Gaylord’s Interventional Pain Center, which offers targeted, minimally invasive, non-opioid treatments for back, neck, nerve, and musculoskeletal pain.
Together with Interventional Pain Specialist, Anton Cherry, PA-C, Dr. Macannuco-Winslow focuses on pinpointing the specific source of a patient’s pain, not just masking it.
“The first step is always diagnosis,” she says. “Back pain, for example, can come from the disc, facet joints, SI or sacroiliac joint, nerves, or muscles. Each one needs a different treatment.”
The Center also treats neck pain, post-surgical pain, neuropathic pain, complex regional pain syndrome, myofascial pain, joint pain, and pain related to spinal cord or brain injuries.
Common fluoroscopic- and ultrasound-guided procedures include epidural steroid injections, facet blocks, SI joint injections, nerve blocks, radiofrequency ablation, trigger point injections, and Botox for migraines. Treatments are often paired with Gaylord’s expert outpatient physical therapy to help patients rebuild so results last.
Anton Cherry, lead physician assistant with Gaylord’s Interventional Pain Center, stresses that surgery is rarely needed.
“Persistent back pain is extremely common, but only two or three percent of people truly require surgery,” he says. “Most get significantly better with the right treatments and therapy.”
For June Napolitano, a Gaylord nurse and volunteer EMT and firefighter, pain became a constant battle. Years of lifting patients and carrying heavy gear took a toll, and a slipped disc left her facing possible surgery.
“I don’t know a nurse, EMT, or firefighter who doesn’t have - or has had - some kind of back issue,” she says.
June turned to the Gaylord Interventional Pain Center where targeted injections paired with outpatient PT help her regain mobility, avoid surgery, and stay on the front line.
“Sometimes the relief is immediate, and I walk out feeling better right away,” she says. “It keeps me moving and out of the OR.”
Dr. Macannuco-Winslow says stories like June’s are common.
“We meet people at some of their most discouraging moments,” she says. “Watching them get back to work, their hobbies, their families - that’s why this program exists.”
Learn more about Gaylord’s Interventional Pain Center or schedule an appointment at www.gaylord.org/paincenter or call (203) 284-2825.