Saturday, March 9, 2019

Courage

“Courage is not having the strength to go on. It is going on when you don't have the strength.” (Teddy Roosevelt)

Chronic pain can have real effects on your day-to-day life and your mental health. Chronic pain is different than regular pain. Doctors often define chronic pain as any pain that lasts for 3 to 6 months or more. Usually the pain signal stops when the cause is resolved. For example, your body repairs the wound on your finger or your torn muscle. But with chronic pain, the nerve signals keep firing even after you’ve healed. Your body keeps hurting weeks, months, or even years after the injury.

Radiofrequency ablation deactivates the nerves responsible for sending pain signals to the brain. Coolief is the only currently known radiofrequency pain management system using water-cooled technology to safely deactivate pain-transmitting sensory nerves, allowing a larger treatment area and greater chance at targeting pain-causing nerves. There was an 83% reduction in patients experiencing symptoms of severe arthritis.

Coolief is a viable option for many patients who aren’t ready or eligible for surgery. Compared to steroid injections, Coolief has demonstrated improved pain relief, functionality, and patient satisfaction. Coolief is a short procedure that can help you return to normal activities within a week or two. One year after treatment 2/3 of patients cut pain in half. Unlike surgery, Coolief involves no incision.

Read Sue Bartoszewski Coolief Testimonial

Can you imagine not being able to walk just 50 feet from your kitchen to your bedroom without taking a break for pain relief? Or, how about abandoning your shopping cart at your grocery story because you couldn’t stand any longer to wait in the check-out lane? For 60-year-old nurse manager Sue Bartoszewski this was an unfortunate reality.

Sue was having health problems associated with being overweight. In 2007, she watched her son complete his first Ironman triathlon and something clicked for Sue. She was inspired and decided it was time to commit to a healthier lifestyle. Sue started walking on the treadmill working her way up to running. She incorporated swimming and biking into her exercise routine and ultimately decided to train for her first Ironman triathlon. It was around this time that Sue noticed a localized pain in her lower back that extended to her left hip and down her leg to her knee. For months Sue dismissed the pain and powered through it, but the more she exercised, the more pain she experienced. Frustrated and fed up with her limiting lifestyle, Sue sought professional advice.

Sue is a clinical nurse manager for surgical services at Centegra Hospital-McHenry where she has worked for 30 years. As a nurse, Sue works closely with physicians and consulted with her colleague and pain medicine specialist, Dr. Terri Dallas-Prunskis, about her lower back pain. Initially Dr. Dallas-Prunskis suspected Sue’s facet joints (small stabilizing joints) were causing the pain and she treated these joints with standard radiofrequency and performed diagnostic facet joint injections obtaining some pain relief. Shortly thereafter, a new treatment called cooled radiofrequency was available and Dr. Dallas-Prunskis administered the cooled radiofrequency on Sue’s facet joints. While the treatment relieved some of Sue’s back pain, it didn’t completely alleviate it.

Sue and Dr. Dallas-Prunskis discussed other possible sources that were causing her pain and decided to try a non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory local injection into the sacroiliac joint (the joint that connects the tailbone to the pelvis, or hipbone). The local injection finally gave Sue the relief she was seeking. Now with the exact source of pain identified, Dr. Dallas-Prunskis treated Sue’s sacroiliac joint with the Coolief Sinergy Cooled RF, a minimally invasive, non-pharmacological treatment option for those suffering from sacroiliac joint (SIJ) pain. Within three to four days of receiving the treatment Sue noticed a marked difference, and within three to four weeks her pain completely disappeared and has never returned.

Sue competed in the Ironman Wisconsin, merely eight months after receiving the SInergy Cooled Radiofrequency (RF) treatment. She was thrilled that she was able to complete and finish first in her age group, which gave her a qualifying slot for the World Championship race in Kona in 2013, a feat that would never have been possible before her Cooled RF treatment.

“Being able walk pain-free is a blessing. Being able to walk without showing the pain is a skill.” (Kylie McPherson)[i]



[i] Adapted from the website: https://www.mycoolief.com
 

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