Leading Pain Management Experts Discuss Negligently Administered Trigger Point Injections

Case Overview

This case involves a male patient who had been involved in a work-related accident. After his accident, he continued to suffer from consistent back pain. He had a consultation at a comprehensive spine center roughly 2 months after the accident. Radiography revealed no significant osseous injuries. The physician’s plan included moving forward with trigger point injections to his lumbar musculature. The procedure notes indicate the patient tolerated the injection well with no complications. The patient was instructed to follow up at the clinic in two weeks, and also received oral medications and ice. The patient returned to the clinic one week later with complaints of left-sided lumbar back pain and left hip pain. In addition, he was suffering from significant muscle spasms and jerking sensations in the back lumbar region.

Questions to the Pain Management expert and their responses

How often do you perform these types of injections?

I conduct trigger point injections on a regular basis (typically weekly).

Have you ever lectured or published on trigger point injections?

I am a board certified physical medicine and rehabilitation physician and also completed a fellowship in pain management.

About the expert

This board certified expert earned his BS from Loyola University and DO from Midwestern University of Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. His Residency and Fellowship training were completed at UCLA and Portner Orthopedic Rehabilitation, respectively. He is a member of multiple pain medicine associations and has more than 20 presentations and original, peer-reviewed articles to his name. This expert has served in numerous clinical positions as an Attending Physician and is actively involved in instructing residents and other physicians in ultrasonography as well as improving pain medicine administration techniques. He has a wide variety of interests and has been a Medical Consultant for two movie productions as well as the Chief Technical Officer for an independent pain medicine web interface company. Currently, he is an Attending Physician at a university affiliated medical center.

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Specialties:

Pain Management