Physiatry (Outpatient)
If you are dealing with a loss of physical function and/or chronic pain, MaineGeneral Physiatry may be able to help.
Physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians (physiatrists) are uniquely trained to treat problems that interfere with one's ability to move and function. Physiatrists have vast training in neuromusculoskeletal disorders from sprains and strains to more serious problems such as spine and brain injuries.
Services We Provide
- Spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation
- Stroke rehabilitation
- Spasticity management
- Pain management
- Headache management
- Musculoskeletal rehabilitation
- Spine rehabilitation
- Peripheral joint injections
- Peripheral nerve injections
- Trigger point injections
- Interventional spine procedures
- Orthotics and prosthetics (i.e. foot drop and amputee)
- Electromyography (EMG) and Nerve Conduction Studies (NCS) for diagnosis of peripheral nerve and muscle pathology
- Wheelchair Clinic
Our Approach to Care
The staff at MaineGeneral Physiatry strive to provide compassionate care through an understanding who you are as an individual and how your symptoms impact all aspects of your life.
Our evaluation is comprehensive and our goal is to diagnose you as accurately as possible and involve you as a shared decision maker in your treatment plan. We look forward to helping you live life to its fullest.
Our Treatments
Our physiatrists can prescribe physical therapies and medication, as well as perform non-surgical procedures to help restore function.
We can also expertly diagnose nerve and soft-tissue injuries and are well trained in electrodiagnosis (EMGs).
Some physiatrists, with additional pain medicine training, commonly use other non-surgical interventions such as epidural injections, nerve blocks and joint injections, including injections in the spine.
Several of our providers hold federal suboxone licenses and manage suboxone treatment.
Nerve Conduction Study and Electromyography
Nerve conduction study and electromyography is a diagnostic test to check how well your nerves and muscles function. It is commonly used to diagnosis conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome and radiculopathy, or a pinched nerve.
It is a two-part test; the first part involves placing disposable surface electrodes on your skin and stimulating your nerve with a stimulator to see how it works. You may feel a slight shock during this part of the exam.
The second part of the exam involves a very fine needle being inserted into your muscle to look for any abnormal muscle activity. At any point during the exam if the test becomes too uncomfortable, please let the provider know and the test will be stopped.
Once the test is done, your test results will be sent to your provider. This usually takes no more than one business day.
Before you have your exam, it is important that you do not apply any cream, lotion or ointment to your skin as this can prevent the electrodes from sticking.
Ultrasound-guided Injection
An ultrasound-guided injection involves using high-frequency sound images to help the provider identify the needle and target. The target could be muscle, tendon or joints.
Sound waves are created by specialized crystals inside a transducer. The transducer sends sound waves out which are bounced back to it to create an image.
It is crucial that most injections are done with image guidance as this improves injection accuracy to 97 percent. Unguided injections have been reported to be accurate only 30 percent of the time. This could mean the difference between an effective and safe injection versus not.
