Understanding Pain Management: How Our New Pain Clinic Can Help

Chronic pain affects millions of people and can interfere with everything from work and hobbies to basic daily activities. At Perham Health, we recognize how deeply pain affects quality of life. That’s why we’ve expanded services to include a specialized pain clinic, offering patients a range of treatment options focused on reducing pain and restoring function.

If you have pain lasting more than three months, that may signal that specialized evaluation is needed.

“Our goal is to provide patients with a better quality of life and reduce pain,” says pain management nurse practitioner Kelsey Dockendorf. “We tell patients that we may never fully take your pain away, but our aim is about a 50% reduction in symptoms.”

Conditions We Treat

These are just some of the conditions we can treat for pain.

• Arthritis
• Chronic back or neck pain
• Headaches
• Chronic joint pain
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Post-surgical pain
• Chronic abdominal or pelvic pain (after medical workup rules out other causes)
• Long COVID symptoms (some patients benefit from specialized injections to reduce fatigue or restore taste and smell)

Types of Interventions

• Steroid Injections: Delivered into the epidural space (for back pain), facet joints (for arthritis), or directly into knees, hips, shoulders, and wrists. These injections reduce inflammation and provide pain relief.
• Hyaluronic Acid Injections: This gel-like substance is used in the knees to lubricate joints and reduce pain.
• Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA): This technique “burns” sensory nerves in the spine, hip, shoulder, or knee that carry pain signals. “I always tell patients that we’re disconnecting the circuitry that tells your brain you have pain,” Kelsey says. RFA can be especially helpful for arthritis-related pain or persistent knee pain after surgery.
• Sympathetic and Nerve Blocks: These injections interrupt pain signals in specific nerve groups.

The goal is not only to ease pain but also to help muscles relax, restore mobility, and support overall function.

A Non-Narcotic Approach

The clinic focuses on non-narcotic strategies, but medications may still play a role. “We will prescribe certain medications like gabapentin for nerve pain, or guide patients on using over-the-counter options like NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and Tylenol safely,” Kelsey explains.

The Pain Clinic Team

Kelsey sees patients in the clinic and creates treatment plans. If she recommends an injection, she works closely with a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), who performs injections and is board-certified in pain management. Together, they partner with multiple specialties to create individualized care plans.

How to Get Connected

Patients can reach the pain clinic in two ways:

• Referral from a primary care provider. Most patients start here, and primary care providers may order initial imaging (like X-rays or MRIs) before sending patients to pain management.
• Self-referral. Patients may also contact the pain clinic directly.

The first appointment is typically a one-hour consultation. During this visit, the provider reviews the patient’s history and imaging, performs a thorough physical exam, and discusses symptoms. From there, additional imaging may be ordered, or patients may be referred to another specialty, such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, or chiropractic care.

Taking the First Step

Living with pain can feel isolating, but help is available. Patients can talk to their primary care provider for a referral or call the pain clinic directly to learn whether they’re a candidate for services.

“If you think you’d benefit from pain management, just reach out,” Kelsey encourages. “Even if our services aren’t the right fit, we’ll help guide you to the next step. The goal is always the same: to help you feel better and improve your quality of life.”

Learn more about Pain Management

Learn more about Kelsey Dockendorf, CNP