Dr. Rodolfo Gari Discusses The Effects of Car Accident Injuries

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Interviewer: You don’t need me to tell you, car accidents can be a pain, literally, it can be a traumatic experience, of course, but that pain doesn’t have to become permanent. Dr. Rudy Gari, from Florida Pain Relief Group, joins us now once again to tell us how we need to make sure these injuries don’t go untreated. It seems like a simple thing, right? But most people are rushed right to the ER after an accident, aren’t they, Dr. Gari? Why is it important for them to see a pain relief doctor as well?

Dr. Gari: Well, what happens a lot in a car accident is you get what’s called a deceleration type of injury. Basically, you’re traveling 30 miles an hour and you come to a screeching halt very quickly. So that deceleration type of injury can cause injuries in and of itself. And normally it involves, it can be the joints, it could be your back, it could be your neck. And so that injury, again, a lotta what causes the pain is some sort of inflammation that is a direct result of that injury. So we take care of patients that have been involved in motor vehicle accidents. And whether it’s a disc herniation in the lower back, the neck, joint, wherever that might be. We even have some patients that, you know, they come and see us. And some of those patients, you know, because of a lot of patients that have been involved in a car accident, may have some sort of legal representation. They may not even have insurance. We will even take care of ’em because of that and we can work with their law firm if that’s what it takes. We just wanna make sure that this patient gets better.

Interviewer: Gets better. Now a lotta times you have a car accident and you might feel something, you’re not really sure if you feel something. How do you know when you should see someone when the pain might just be like a minor, temporary pain?

Dr. Gari: Well, what I tell my patients is if something is not normal, you know it Go see a doctor. Because it may be something a little mild…

Interviewer: Right now.

Dr. Gari: …right now, but it might be something a little, you know, deeper that’s going on. And we have to at least make a diagnosis, maybe physical therapy of something to make sure that you can get better, get back on your feet.

Interviewer: Is it typically…when people come and see after a car accident, is it a neck injury? I know you mentioned back, but neck is even more prevalent more than likely, right?

Dr. Gari: Well, one of the things that we see in car accidents a lot is what’s called a whiplash. So whiplash is when the back of your neck hits backwards and there are these nerves in the back of your neck that can cause a lotta inflammation there and you get what’s called an [inaudible 00:02:37], a really bad headache behind your head. We can help that quite a bit because, again, we just go in there, get that inflammation to go away. There’s different types of procedures we can do for that. So the neck injury is common because the head goes back and forth during that car accident.

Interviewer: Sure, yeah, it makes sense. And let’s talk about prevention because, you know, most people hopefully are wearing their seat belts. What other kinds of things can they do in their car because you never know when you’re gonna be hit from behind?

Dr. Gari: Well, some of the things that they need to be mindful of course is in this…you know, I’m not a driving instructor, but of course, you know, be defensive. If you anticipate something…in fact, there’s some car, I was driving my son’s car the other day and the car started slowing down. So these sensors are actually very helpful right now to try to prevent these injuries. Wear your seatbelt, make sure that your air bag is working, and brace yourself if you’re about to hit.

Interviewer: Okay, all right. Good advice. Thank you so much, Dr. Gari. Now you can contact Florida Pain Relief Group to schedule your same day appointment. You can visit their website, floridapainreliefgroup.com, or give them a call 844-KICK-PAIN, simple as that. Thanks again doctor, appreciate it. We’ll be right back with more “Daytime” right after this.

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Dr. Rodolfo Gari Discusses About Diabetic Neuropathy and Ways to Treat It

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Cyndi: Over 29 million people in the United States have diabetes, a disease that can lead to a variety of other problems, a common one being diabetic neuropathy. It can show itself in many different ways, which means it’s also hard to diagnose. Dr. Rudy Gari from Florida Pain Relief Group is back with more. Dr. Gari, good to have you here.

Dr. Gari: My pleasure.

Cyndi: Let’s talk about diabetic neuropathy, and why is this the most common form of neuropathy?

Dr. Gari: Certainly. Well, unfortunately, it’s the most common because there’s a lot of patients, a lot of people with diabetes. And what happens with diabetes is, your sugar goes up and down quite a bit. Well, that sugar is spread throughout the whole body, especially, it can affect the nerves. And over constant and constant misalignment of your glucose levels, your nerves get damaged, especially the very small nerves, and that can cause significant pain in patients that have diabetes. Their pain is usually manifested as a burning sensation, a sharp, stabbing constant, and it can be very debilitating to a lot of patients.

Cyndi: So it’s not just a pain that comes and goes, it can be there constantly?

Dr. Gari: It can be there constantly, to the point where it’s hard for you to function with your everyday life activities.

Cyndi: I’m thinking for somebody who has neuropathy from diabetes in their feet, that can be difficult for just getting around, right? It’s not only annoying but could it affect your walking ability?

Dr. Gari: Well, the unfortunate part is that it can cause both numbness and pain at the same time, if you can think about that, because of the different fibers that are affected. So, sometimes, we have diabetic neuropathy in people that, they don’t feel as much. They can get hurt more often, but then they always have a constant, stabbing, burning sensation that can be very debilitating.

Cyndi: Sounds like an awful, awful way to live. So how can you help people who are dealing with that kind of pain?

Dr. Gari: Sure. So for the first thing, it’s the obvious. We wanna make sure that your diabetes is well-controlled. So make sure you’re seeing your internist, your family practice doctor, making sure that your blood glucose is very stable, as much as it can be. Other things that we can do is medications. There’s different ointments or different creams. And if those don’t work, there are even more interventional techniques. We’ve spoken before about something called spinal-cord stimulation. And spinal-cord stimulation is one of those things that can actually replace that burning sensation of your diabetic neuropathy with a more mild, tingling sensation.

Cyndi: So even though you’re dealing with the spinal cord, it can affect all your extremities? Is that where it all comes from?

Dr. Gari: Well, diabetes tends to affect, normally, your extremities. Usually, your arms, your hands, your legs, your feet. And the extremities, the nerves that go to extremities originate in your spinal cord.

Cyndi: Right. So that’s why you can go in there and take care of that.

Dr. Gari: Correct.

Cyndi: I know there are a lot of people watching right now who are probably thinking, “This is me.” So what kind of message do you have for them right now? Because they’ve been living with this for a long time.

Dr. Gari: Well, the message that we have is that we have a lot of options for you. Besides medication, there are ointments, there are creams, making sure that your glucose is well-controlled. There is even different types of nerve blocks that we can do that can alleviate their pain. And if we have to, we can do a trial of a spinal-cord stimulator.

Cyndi: And just having somebody say, “Your pain is real,” I’m sure is music to so many people’s ears, because they’ve dealing with it for a long time and not getting anywhere.

Dr. Gari: Unfortunately, there’s a lot of illnesses that many doctors have. Pain is one of them. All that we do is take care of people in pain, so you’re the only thing that’s important to us, and your pain.

Cyndi: That’s great news. Dr. Gari, thank you very much. Florida Pain Relief Group even schedule same-day appointments, so be sure to visit their website, floridapainreliefgroup.com, or give them a call, 844-KICK-PAIN. Dr. Gari, thank you again.

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Dr. Rodolfo Gari Talks What CRPS Is, Where It Occurs and Treatment

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Cindy: Complex regional pain syndrome, it doesn’t that like something that anyone would want to deal with. It is also called CRPS.This chronic pain condition can wreak havoc on your body. Doctor Rudy Gari from Florida Pain Relief Group joins us now to fill us in on what this is. Great to have you back.

Dr. Gari: Thank you.

Cindy: Complex regional pain syndrome sounds awful. What is it?

Dr. Gari: Yes, it does. And the reason why it is called complex regional pain syndrome is because it’s just that, it’s complex. This is something that has been going on Cindy, for a very long time. In fact, this goes all the way back in the Civil War. We have documented case studies of soldiers who actually had so much pain in their arm that they wanted to cut their arms off.

Cindy: Oh, okay.

Dr. Gari: It used to be called something called causalgia, it was called the reflex sympathetic dystrophy. The term that is used right now is called complex regional pain syndrome and what that really is, if you think about it, think about if you get pain in your hand or your arms, anywhere. Normally, that pain shoots up your brain and it stops. What happens with complex regional pain syndrome is that it becomes a vicious cycle. So the pain keeps going in circles, keeps going in circles and it never stops.

Cindy: Any particular area of the body that you see it most often?

Dr. Gari: It usually affects the extremities. It affects the arms, it affects the legs, it can actually spread, but the good thing Cindy is there’s a lot of things that we can do to help complex regional pain syndrome. One of the first things is that the earlier that we see it the better. And so it often travels through these nerves called sympathetic nerves. So what we do is what we call sympathetic blockade. We want to stop that seizure and that pain constantly going in circles but it’s a certain specialized field in medicine they use, physicians like myself, I’m an anesthesiologist, I’ve been treating this for many, many years and I’ve actually had great success. So there’s blocks, there’s something called sponcra [SP] stimulators and the earlier that we treat this the better it is for our patients.

Cindy: How often do you see somebody coming in with complex regional pain syndrome?

Dr. Gari: I just saw a patient this morning.

Cindy: Really?

Dr. Gari: This patient has horrendous, horrendous leg pain and has all kinds of issues going on. Not just nerve pain it affects his vascular system and the pain is never ending. She’s has unfortunately, has this for many, many years.

Cindy: Oh gosh. Well, she doesn’t have to live with it for any more years, right?

Dr. Gari: No, no. We have her on a plan.

Cindy: What are you able to do for her? What are you going to do?

Dr. Gari: So what we do is we can give her some medications probably to help with that pain. We’re gonna go after and try to stop that seizure if you will of the pain syndrome, blocks and we’re considering a sponcro stimulator as well.

Cindy: So get to the source, right?

Dr. Gari: Absolutely, absolutely.

Cindy: Instead of just you know, treating the…

Dr. Gari: It can be cured.

Cindy: It can?

Dr. Gari: It can be cured, yes.

Cindy: Okay. So when is it time to come see you? When they feel like this is something that has been going on with them?

Dr. Gari: The sooner the better, the sooner the better. Have seen someone like myself because we can treat you in those things that we can do.

Cindy: So, usually fingers, legs, any…

Dr. Gari: Fingers, arms. It’s usually the arms or hands or legs. It usually begins as something as mild as just bumping into the wall somewhere that can cause, like, a seizure which will just continue, where we have to stop that vicious cycle.

Cindy: It goes on and on and on. Okay, good stuff Dr. Gari, that’s really good news for so many people. Florida Pain Relief Group has scheduled same day appointments so be sure to visit their website. It is floridapainreliefgroup.com or you can give them a call at 844-KICK-PAIN. Doctor, always good to see you. Thank you very much.

Dr. Gari: My pleasure.

Cindy: We’ll be right back.

Dr. Gari: Thank you.

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Dr. Rodolfo Gari Talks What a Rhizotomy Is and How It Can Relieve Joint Pain

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Interviewer: People who are in pain oftentimes don’t go to the doctor because they fear the worst. We all sometimes feel like that, right? But some pain can actually be treated without surgery. Dr. Rudy Gari from Florida Pain Relief Group is back to tell us more. And good to see you, doctor.

Dr. Gari: Good seeing you.

Interviewer: And specifically, we’re talking about something called a rhizotomy. Now, what is a rhizotomy and what does it do?

Dr. Gari: Certainly. So a rhizotomy, basically, what we’re doing is we’re finding ways to deaden the nerves in a permanent way. There are tiny little nerves that give sensation to your joints, and they’re just purely sensory nerve. They don’t do anything else other than just cause you to have pain if you have some sort of inflammatory process, which can happen a lot. So, people, if they have some sort of a chronic inflammatory process through the joints, those nerves are constantly reminding them. What we do is we first make sure that that’s the cause of the pain, and once we’ve diagnosed that, we do something that’s called rhizotomy. And what that does is, we place these needles right into those tiny little nerves. The needle tip heats up and it burns those little nerves off, and that relief can last several months, sometimes up to a year.

Interviewer: So it’s not a permanent relief but it is something that will give you relief for, like you said, a certain amount of time.

Dr. Gari: Yes. Unfortunately, a lot of those tiny little nerves tend to grow back, but I’ve had people who’ve had relief for over a year. And if you have pain on a daily basis, that’s a lifetime.

Interviewer: Yeah, no kidding. And it’s not too much trouble, then, to just come back when the pain flares up again, too?

Dr. Gari: Absolutely. We can repeat this. And the nice thing about it is that this is done through a needle, so we’re not cutting skin, it’s not a permanent operation and it’s a relatively benign procedure. We have a lot of safety measures in check.

Interviewer: So does it hurt at all? You mentioned needle. That’s the first thing I think of, “How much pain is involved to get pain relief?”

Dr. Gari: Yes. No, it’s actually fairly painless. We give a local anesthetic at the skin. We then go ahead and use some intravenous sedatives. And, in fact, just this morning I had four patients that had the rhizotomy done and they went home already.

Interviewer: So what areas does this benefit, primarily? Is it the knee? Is it the shoulder? Can it be any joint?

Dr. Gari: Well, the rhizotomy can occur in just about anywhere. The most common places happens to be at the neck and the lower back. The reason for that, most of the bending takes place at your neck and lower back, so that’s where a lot of the trauma and a lot of the pain comes from.

Interviewer: Now, what makes this kind of a good idea to do as a procedure to relieve the pain, as opposed to other treatments?

Dr. Gari: Well, what happens is, there’s not a whole lot of treatments that are available when you have chronic pain of your joints, for example. It’s usually medications, and those medications have significant side effects. Anti-inflammatories can cause an ulcer, can cause bleeding. You have opioids. We all know about the problems with opiate addiction. So this is an alternative to you having to take medications. Medications are not benign. They’re not mean to be taken on a long-term basis, but people have to take them that way. This is an option so that you don’t have to take these medications long-term.

Interviewer: You know, it’s funny you mentioned that because I know so many people who have their elderly parents actually hooked on opiates, and they don’t even know it. Because that’s what they’re prescribed, that’s what they take. So this is something that’s so much healthier and so much better for you.

Dr. Gari: Absolutely. I had an 81-year-old female today, a very nice lady, that was taking a lot of medications. And the problem with that, if they get a little bit groggy, and they fall and they break a hip, that can be lethal.

Interviewer: Absolutely. All right, Dr. Gari, great information. Now, Florida Pain Relief Group even schedules same-day appointments. Be sure to visit their website, floridapainreliefgroup.com, or give them a call, 844-KICK-PAIN. Simple as that. We’ll be right back.

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Dr. Rodolfo Gari Talks Fibromyalgia: Who Gets It and Treatments

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Interviewer: In some cases, widespread muscle and joint pain can point to fibromyalgia. It will not only affect physical pain, but it can involve mental pain as well. Dr. Rudy Gari from Florida Pain Relief Group joins us now, with some help. Dr. Gari, great to have you here.

Dr. Gari: Thanks a lot.

Interviewer: Let’s talk about what causes fibromyalgia in the first place.

Dr. Gari: Sure. So fibromyalgia, we’re not really sure the exact causes of it, but here’s what we do know. So if you break down the word fibromyalgia, fibro means fibrous, and myalgia means muscle, inflammation of the muscles. What we know is that it tends to affect predominantly women, we’re not really sure why it does, but it does. And it involves a process whereby your fibrous tissues and your muscles combine to cause inflammation, and it can be very debilitating in a lot of people. There’s different things that could be done, we know what can help. For example, we know what makes it worse is usually stress, tension, so the treatment for that is relaxation and techniques to lower that threshold.

Interviewer: Is this really common, among a lot of women in particular, that you see?

Dr. Gari: Yes, it’s very common. We have a lot of patients with fibromyalgia, and the way that we treat them is comprehensively, and that involves relaxation techniques, physical therapy. Sometimes we do these things called trigger point injections, and trigger points are actually like little muscle spasms that can develop in patients with fibromyalgia, throughout your body. It’s a pretty simple technique, we just go in there with a very small needle and break up these little trigger points. We also give them medications to help them relax, and we find that with that comprehensive approach, we can give them their life back.

Interviewer: Yeah, I was going to ask you, what kind of reactions are you getting from patients who you’re helping? Because I’m sure a lot of them, for a long time, they weren’t being diagnosed. And they kept saying, or people might have been saying, “Well, are you depressed?”, and they weren’t getting to the heart of what was wrong with them. So we mentioned physical, how it hurts, but how mentally it can be so hurtful, for so many people. So what are you finding from the people that you’re treating with this?

Dr. Gari: Sure, well one of the things that would happen the last…many years ago, the first thing that we tell them is that this pain is real.

Interviewer: And that’s half the battle for so many people, right?

Dr. Gari: Yes, this pain is real, and sometimes I tell patients that, and they begin to cry.

Interviewer: Yeah, because nobody has listened to them.

Dr. Gari: No, this pain is real, this is real pain. You’re having this pain, it’s not just in your head. You’re feeling this, but the good thing is we can help you with this. And that you’d be…it’s almost as if it’s like tons of weight off their shoulders, that somebody understands what they have and that we can do something about it.

Interviewer: Do you see gentlemen at all with fibromyalgia?

Dr. Gari: We do see men with fibromyalgia, not as common as women, but we treat them the same way. This happens in both, it’s not just unique to women, it also affects men.

Interviewer: So apart from finally having somebody listen to them, and saying “Yes, I’m validating that you’re feeling what you’re feeling,” how quickly can people start to feel some kind of relief?

Dr. Gari: I’ve had patients come into the office with significant pain, mostly from trigger points. We do the trigger point injections right in the office, and they come out a different person. You can just look at their face. I wish I could take a picture of their face before and after. So it can be immediate, but that’s just the immediate treatment of the trigger points. We then go more comprehensive with everything else and make it more long-term.

Interviewer: Well, I know this is really encouraging news for a lot of people that are watching right now because fibromyalgia does affect a lot of people, and they’re looking for help. Dr. Gari, thank you very much for joining us today. Florida Pain Relief Group even schedules same day appointments. Be sure to visit their website, floridapainreliefgroup.com, or give them a call right now 844-KICK-PAIN. Doctor, thank you again. We’ll be right back.

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Dr. Rodolfo Gari Discusses What Regenerative Medicine Is and How It Can Relieve Your Pain

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Jerry: Those of you who suffer from pain know that it can be extraordinarily debilitating, but imagine if you’re able to beat that through a minimally invasive procedure and still remain active. Dr. Rudy Gari from Florida Pain Relief Group joins us now to tell us how. Okay, this is gonna be music to so many people’s ears who are out there. And by the way, including mine, because I suffer from terrible arthritic pain in both my knee and my foot. And we’re not gonna make this all about me, we want it to be all about what this almost miracle treatment is that you’re offering. How are you, first of all?

Dr. Rudy Gari: Doing great, Jerry.

Jerry: How about that lead in, huh? That was quite a build-up.

Dr. Gari: That was great, Thank you very much.

Jerry: Of course. Let’s talk about what you do. I mean, we’re talking about regenerative medicine. Tell us exactly what that is.

Dr. Gari: Well, Jerry, regenerative medicine is actually one of the most exciting fields in medicine today. And so people talk about minimally invasive procedures. Pain management physicians, like myself, anesthesiologists, have been doing minimally invasive procedures before those words became common. And what that is, essentially is, what can we do short of surgery? In fact, 99% of what we do there is actually no cutting of the skin. It’s just an injection.

Jerry: Okay, injection of?

Dr. Gari: Injection of something that is gonna help you, and that kind of leads into regenerative medicine. So regenerative medicine is actually using your own body’s stem cells to regenerate your own tissues. So we’ve seen lots of stuff, for example, we can regenerate organs or we can also regenerate a lot of our own tissues. And some people hear stem cells, we still have stem cells. We just don’t have the same amount of stem cells that we had when we were babies. So as we get older, we have less stem cells. So regenerative medicine is, for example, through some things called allographs. And they are actually amniotic membrane that has been reconstituted, and it has these factors called stem cell retruding factors. What that does is we apply that with a needle, with an injection, into your joint, your back, or wherever it might be. It actually tells your body, “Hey, I need to have this fixed.”

Jerry: That’s great. So we’re talking about how many injections before you start feeling much better?

Dr. Gari: Well, it actually takes a while because remember your body is going to have to heal. So it’s anywhere from two to three different injections.

Jerry: Over a period of time?

Dr. Gari: Over a period of time, because this is not like anything foreign implanted. This is your body regenerating itself.

Jerry: What are we talking about in terms of down time?

Dr. Gari: There’s not a whole lot of down time. There might be like a little burning, something like that, because there’s a little inflammatory process that takes place while your body’s trying to heal. But in fact, one of the people that work with us actually had regenerative medicine in his knee and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro a week later.

Jerry: A week later? Sign me up for this stuff. Okay, any pain at the site of the injection when it happens?

Dr. Gari: There’s a little burning, a little uncomfortable, for like a day or two, but that goes away. It’s an inflammatory process because your body is busy trying to heal itself.

Jerry: Okay. So why isn’t everybody doing this, and should they be?

Dr. Gari: Well, a lot of people are doing this. It’s a new science, we’re very excited at Florida Pain Relief Group because we have experts in that field, and it’s becoming more and more and more. This is the wave of the future.

Jerry: Excellent. Dr. Rudy Gari, thank you so much. Florida Pain Relief Group even schedules same day appointments. Be sure to visit their website floridapainreliefgroup.com, or call 844-KICK-PAIN. That’s easy enough. Thanks so much, doctor.

Dr. Gari: Jerry, it’s my pleasure.

Jerry: Nice to see you. We’ll be back with more Daytime right after this.

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Dr. Rodolfo Gari Discusses Prescription Drug Alternatives

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Host: As many of you know, prescription drugs can help mask pain and it’s just for the now, but they are never the answer for fixing the problem long term. Dr. Rudy Gari from Florida Pain Relief Group wants to help us with an alternative. Welcome back Dr. Gari, nice to see you.

Dr. Gari: Nice seeing you.

Host: Now, when you work in the field of pain relief you must see a lot of people on an everyday basis coming in who have been on many, many prescription drugs for a very long time, because they’re in such pain. What do you say to these people when they come into your office?

Dr. Gari: Well, the first thing we tell them is this is not the only option. There’s a lot of things that we can do for you, and medications, especially prescription medications that can have some significant side effects, we have to make sure, number one, is it the right medication that you’re taking? So one of the first things that we do is we perform a test called pharmacogenomics. Pharmacogenomics is using your own genetic makeup to make sure that that medication that you have is the right medication for you. So we may adjust it, and what we’re looking for is something that’s going to reduce the side effects, but give you better pain relief. Now, it’s a several step process. The other thing we’re going to do is we’re going to diagnose you. We’re going to figure out exactly what’s wrong with you, because the medications are often treating the symptoms. So we want to get right to the source, you know, what is it that’s causing that pain? And there’s a lot of things that we can do for that.

Host: Okay, so you’re looking at, in terms of side effects, I mean, addiction is one of the most obvious side effects. So, what kind of pain relief management can you offer people who are in so much pain and on drugs?

Dr. Gari: Okay, so the first thing that we need to differentiate is drug addiction and drug dependence. Okay, so let me give an example. Drug addiction, when a patient is addicted to drugs like opioids, or narcotics as they call them, when we give them medication like an opioid, the level of function decreases. When a patient is dependent on their medication and we give an opioid, the level of function increases. So here’s an analogy. Let’s just say they have high blood pressure. You are dependent on your high blood pressure medication. So what we know for a fact is that if you are in serious pain, and you’re taking medication for that pain, the risk of addiction is actually quite minimal. So we have to separate those, so that sometimes we have patients that have both. They have problems with pain, and they also may have a problem with addiction, and we treat both of them.

Host: What other potential harmful effects are there for people on certain prescription drugs, and how do you help them?

Dr. Gari: Okay, certainly for…well the main thing is a lot of patients unfortunately have a lot of psychosocial problems because…

Host: Psychosocial?

Dr. Gari: Psychosocial, meaning that, you know, it’s not just them, it’s the entire family that’s involved. So I talk to the family.

Host: So co-dependence, etc.

Dr. Gari: Yes, and sometimes the family doesn’t understand what’s going on. So we go over what’s causing the pain, what medication are we taking? Can we change some of the medication, something that might work better for you? Can we perform certain procedures that’s going to lower your dependence on these medications?

Host: And perhaps save their lives?

Dr. Gari: Yes, yes, absolutely, and some of the biggest gratification is we have these patients that come in, they’re depressed. Their families don’t understand. We talk to the family, tell them what’s going on, we help them out, and we like to give them their life back.

Host: Boy, that’s…and you know, giving somebody their life back after they’ve been on so many mind-altering drugs for so long must be the greatest gift in the world.

Dr. Gari: There’s nothing more gratifying to me than doing just that.

Host: Well, keep up the good work Dr. Gari, and Florida Pain Relief Group even schedules same day appointments, so be sure to visit their website, floridapainreliefgroup.com, or give a call 844-KICK-PAIN, and we’ll be right back with more Daytime right after this.

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Dr. Rodolfo Gari Talks About Pinched Nerves, Back Pain and Exercises to Help

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Cindy: Everyone experiences back pain at some point in their life, whether it be strained muscles, a pinched nerve, or something much more serious. Dr. Rudy Gari from Florida Pain Relief joins us now to talk about why it happens and what we can do to stop it. Hi, Dr. Gari.

Dr. Gari: Hi Cindy, how are you?

Cindy: I’m well and thankfully pain-free right now, but I’ve had back pain and I think everybody that’s watching right now at some point in their lives has had it if they’re not having it right now. What can we do, first of all, to prevent this back pain?

Dr. Gari: Well the first thing that you can do is to make sure that your core muscles are intact. One of the biggest reasons for problems with back pain is that as we get older, our muscles and our core tends to loosen up, and those are really the protectors, and when they loosen up, it gets everything else loose and allows you to maybe twist the wrong way for you to get hurt.

Cindy: Yeah, I’ve done that.

Dr. Gari: Yeah.

Cindy: What about pinched nerves? We hear about that a lot. What can your organization do to help people who have pinched a nerve in their back?

Dr. Gari: A pinched nerve is actually a nerve that’s inflamed. What we can do is first identify exactly which nerve it is. Then if it doesn’t go away with typical physical therapy, medication, and so forth, very mild, we can go ahead and put some medication right exactly into that nerve with a very local anesthetic and something to take away the inflammation. If we take the inflammation, that pain goes away.

Cindy: Because a lot of times when people have back pain, it prevents them from doing any kind of activity, and then that’s a ripple effect for their whole health, isn’t it?

Dr. Gari: Absolutely, because if you think about it, your back is the core of your locomotion. You can’t walk, you can’t do anything, you can’t bend. It’s debilitating.

Cindy: Yeah, it can affect every aspect of your life.

Dr. Gari: Absolutely.

Cindy: What’s the most common back pain people come in complaining of?

Dr. Gari: The most common that we see is either some sort of a strain, or it’s some sort of a herniated disk, which is actually where your spine consists of the 31 different vertebrae, like bones, that hold us up, and there are these little shock absorbers in between. That little shock absorber gel, if it protrudes out it can hit a nerve, cause inflammation, and that can be very debilitating.

Cindy: What’s the option for somebody with a herniated disk? My mom had that.

Dr. Gari: Yeah, the option is to see if it goes away with physical therapy and just rest. If it doesn’t, then before you go and get operated, we can go in right like we talked about earlier, go in and take care of that inflamed nerve. It’s an outpatient procedure.

Cindy: Great.

Dr. Gari: Take away and reduce the inflammation, allow you to get back on your feet again, and eventually that inflammation goes away so that we can try to avoid you from getting surgery.

Cindy: Isn’t that nice? A lot of people will be happy to hear about that. What can people do at home and how can exercise play a role in really protecting our backs and preventing damage?

Dr. Gari: The exercise that you can do is, again, core exercises, especially your abdominal area. Want to make sure that you find ways not to have more extra pounds than you need to. You have to be careful with your exercises because you don’t want to hurt yourself either.

Cindy: Right.

Dr. Gari: But anything that strengthens your abdominal area and your back muscles, that’s the first line of defense before it ends up hitting your spine, which is where some of the problems tend to occur.

Cindy: What about yoga and Pilates? Do you think those are good?

Dr. Gari: Those are very good, absolutely. Stretching, and that all causes a lot of core exercises, yoga and Pilates. They’re very good. In fact, Pilates was actually started by a doctor, Dr. Pilate.

Cindy: Yes, of course.

Dr. Gari: Yes, and Dr. Pilate started this Pilates exercises because he suffers from back pain.

Cindy: See?

Dr. Gari: And he wanted to actually find some exercises where he could actually treat himself, and he treated himself with Pilate exercises.

Cindy: All right, well Dr. Gari, thank you very much. For relief of any kind of pain, you can make the same day appointment today at Florida Pain Relief. Be sure to visit their website, FloridaPainRelief.com, or give them a call. 844-KICK-PAIN. We’ll be right back.

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Dr. Rodolfo Gari of Florida Pain Relief Group Talks Hip and Knee Pain in Women

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Cyndi Edwards: Hip and knee pain are feelings that many people know all too well. Dr. Rudy Gari from Florida Pain Relief Group, joins us today to talk about what could be causing this and how you can treat it. Dr. Gari, welcome back to Daytime.

Dr. Gari: Thank you. Thank you.

Cyndi Edwards: Let’s talk about hip pain in women in particular. What are the main causes of that?

Dr. Gari: Okay, well hip pain results from pain in your joints. So our bodies consist of joints everywhere. Now what’s unique about the hip and the knees, is they tend to be much larger joints. And if you can think about that, your hips is where most of your weight is carried. So in women or men, what causes that is basically inflammation.

Cyndi Edwards: Okay.

Dr. Gari: So you can get inflammation at the joint. Sometimes the inflammation could be caused by injuries, whether it’s the tendon or the capsule around there. But basically, it’s some sort of inflammatory process that causes that. It could be arthritis. It could be just all kinds of causes.

Cyndi Edwards: Okay. So there’s a correlation right, between weight gain and hip pain?

Dr. Gari: Absolutely. So like what we discussed earlier, was the fact that the weight is carried there. So the more weight that you have, the more in pain you’re gonna be. Just try to imagine trying to carry a 30-pound dumbbell.

Cyndi Edwards: Yeah, no thanks. Can you relieve that pain? How can you do that?

Dr. Gari: Absolutely.

Cyndi Edwards: Without getting a hip replacement?

Dr. Gari: Sure. So a lot of people have heard of, you know, Motrin, Advil. Those are all what’s called NSAIDs, they’re non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs.

Cyndi Edwards. Yeah.

Dr. Gari: So basically it’s to reduce inflammation, so you take a pill for that. The problem with that pill is that all it has to go into your stomach, right?

Cyndi Edwards: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Gari: And then a very small percentage travels into the blood, and then an even smaller percentage of that goes to the actual joint.

Cyndi Edwards: Right. So how do we get to the joint without actually cutting you open and going to the joint?

Dr. Gari: So what we do at Florida Pain Relief Group, is we can actually go ahead and visualize that joint. We give you a sedative and a local anesthetic. And using image guidance, we can place a needle right into that joint and place the medication there to reduce the inflammation. There’s also other types of treatments. So for example, we have this treatment that’s kind of like a lubricant that can last months.

Cyndi Edwards: Oh, great.

Dr. Gari: That can lubricate your joint. We even have regenerative medicine, that’s been fantastic. So what that does is, there are these things called allografts for example. And the allografts are this material that we use that helps your own body’s stem cells…

Cyndi Edwards: Regenerate?

Dr. Gari: …concentrate…

Cyndi Edwards: Oh.

Dr. Gari: …and regenerate your own damage that you have in those joints. So that it’s your own body healing itself.

Cyndi Edwards: Oh, love the sound of that. And so I suppose, just like the hip you can do the same for the knee. I have to ask about shingles, because we’re hearing a lot about that lately. A very painful affliction. How can you help people that come in with shingles?

Dr. Gari: Sure. So shingles is a very common occurrence, especially as we get older. And what shingles is, it’s actually a recurrence of the chickenpox.

Cyndi Edwards: Right.

Dr. Gari: So the chicken pox virus never goes away, it lives in us in a dormant state. And then something happens that triggers that to express again.

Cyndi Edwards: Right.

Dr. Gari: What happens is that the virus, when it expresses, it travels through your nerves. And that’s why you see it in like a certain distribution.

Cyndi Edwards: Yeah.

Dr. Gari: And as it travels, it just causes major havoc…

Cyndi Edwards: Can you do something for that…

Dr. Gari: ….in your nerves.

Cyndi Edwards: pain really quickly?

Dr. Gari: Yes we can.

Cyndi Edwards: Thank you, very good. But get the vaccine too, if you can.

Dr. Gari: Yes.

Cyndi Edwards: Dr. Gari, appreciate you coming in. If you want relief from any kind of pain, you can make a same-day appointment at Florida Pain Relief Group. Be sure to visit their website floridapainreliefgroup.com or give them a call: 844-KICK-PAIN. We’ll be right back.

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Dr. Rodolfo Gari Talks Neck & Shoulder Pain And Its Causes

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Interviewer: We all know that stress can wreak havoc on our bodies, with the problem area often being the neck and shoulders. Dr. Rudy Gari from Florida Pain Relief is back now to tell us how we can treat it. And you know doctor, I’ll tell you what, I know so many people that complain about these very same issues, the neck and the shoulder. A lot of people have this, don’t they?

Dr. Gari: Absolutely.

Interviewer: Yeah. So let’s talk about specifically neck pain. What causes it primarily?

Dr. Gari: Okay. Well, neck pain is caused by many different factors. It could be something as really benign as just tension, which you get tension, you get spasms around your shoulders. Yeah. It causes a lot of stress, a lot of tension in your neck, headaches. It could be something a lot more involved, like it could be a herniated disc and your cervical spine.

Interviewer: So now, is stress primarily associated with the neck and the shoulder pain that a lot of us experience?

Dr. Gari: Well, the shoulder and neck pain that you get from stress is a symptom of stress. So what happens when you get stressed is your body gets really tense. What it does is your muscles in your neck area contract. It goes into spasms. There are these things called trigger points that are almost like very many, little, tiny like very painful areas. And we can treat that. We can treat that very simply with just different medications. Sometimes just injecting a very small injection right into the muscle can just take it away. I’ve seen people come in, in tears, literally tears, because…

Interviewer: Oh wow, because they have such relief.

Dr. Gari: Well, because they’re miserable and… They’re miserable and then…

Interviewer: Oh coming in but then they’re crying tears of joy.

Dr. Gari: That’s right, and then it’s almost like tears of joy because, “Oh my God, I don’t have any pain anymore,” and it was just something very basic.

Interviewer: Absolutely. You know, so I’m coming to you, let’s say, and I’m coming to you with neck and with shoulder pain and maybe some pain in my upper thoracic and my back. What do you do? What’s the process? Explain.

Dr. Gari: Okay. So the first I’m gonna do is take a thorough history.

Interviewer: Okay.

Dr. Gari: I’m gonna take a history and find out what led to that. The next thing that I’m gonna do is perform a very thorough physical examination. After that, based on those findings, I might send you for some diagnostic studies. And it could be something like nerve conduction studies, EMG, basically just to find out if you have a pinched nerve.

Interviewer: Okay.

Dr. Gari: I may send you for some x-rays, MRI to see if you have a herniated disc. Just want to make sure that you don’t have anything a lot more involved that we should be treating other than just typical tension and neck pain.

Interviewer: Sure. So it really varies depending on, yeah, each person.

Dr. Gari: It varies and each person is different. The way that we like to treat you is to treat you as a person. We’re gonna take care of you as a person. Find out what you have and then tailor that treatment plan according, exactly, to your needs and to your situation.

Interviewer: So you have a specific plan for each person depending on the pain that they’re having?

Dr. Gari: Absolutely, yeah. It has to be tailored uniquely to the patient’s symptoms, history, examination findings.

Interviewer: Sure. Let’s talk about some exercises people can do to alleviate the pain we’re talking about, the neck and the shoulders specifically.

Dr. Gari: Okay. Well, some of the exercises are very basic. Sometimes if you just kind of touch your neck area, you feel like a lump there. That lump is actually your muscles completely contracted. And sometimes even just like massage therapy…

Interviewer: Yeah.

Dr. Gari: …you know how it feels so good because you relax that and that muscle, it’s no longer tense and the relief goes away. The problem is it doesn’t always go away from them. And that’s where we can get a little more involved.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Dr. Gari: But something very basic like that can just help out, just the massaging of that little knot that you have does a lot.

Interviewer: Fantastic, Dr. Gari, appreciate it. Now you can make same-day appointments with this guy and so be sure to visit their website, floridapainrelief.com or give a call 844-KICK-PAIN. That’s what he does. We’ll be right back. Thanks so much, Dr. Gari.

Dr. Gari: Thank you.

Interviewer: Thank you.

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