Center for Pain Medicine

The UCSF Center for Pain Medicine provides comprehensive care for a broad range of pain conditions in both adults and children. The main clinic is located in the Bayfront Medical Building on our Mission Bay campus, and we have a satellite clinic in Marin County. We see nearly 1,000 patients each month, many through telehealth options, such as video visits.

Pain is complex and often requires a multifaceted approach, so we have a diverse team of providers who collaborate closely to develop an individualized plan for each patient. Our pain care team includes specialists in anesthesiology, neurology, internal medicine, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and integrative medicine, as well as psychologists, pharmacists, and a nurse practitioner. All of the doctors are also board-certified in pain medicine.

We evaluate and treat all types of pain, including pain originating from the spine; pain associated with illnesses and injuries; postsurgical pain; and pain syndromes, such as fibromyalgia and complex regional pain syndrome. We offer both conventional and complementary treatments that have been shown to alleviate pain, including medications, surgical and nonsurgical procedures, and psychological interventions. Indeed, we seek to stay abreast of all proven pain management therapies and to provide them appropriately.

Our services include:

• Medication management (working with your other providers, including your primary care provider)
• Psychological care, such as mindfulness-based stress reduction, cognitive behavioral therapy and biofeedback (in both individual and group settings)
• Injection treatments, including trigger point injections and ultrasound- or X-ray-guided steroid injections and nerve blocks
• Radiofrequency ablation (applying electrical current to nerves in order to block pain signals to the brain), including the Intracept™ Procedure (also called basovertebral nerve ablation) for patients with a distinct type of chronic low back pain
• Regenerative therapies to accelerate healing and regrowth of injured tissues, such as prolotherapy (joint injections that may trigger connective tissue growth) and platelet-rich plasma therapy (injections using a patient's own platelets)
• Infusion therapy with medications, such as ketamine and lidocaine
• Minimally invasive lumbar decompression (to treat spinal canal narrowing that's compressing nerve fibers)
• Neuromodulation (delivering electrical stimulation or drug infusions directly to nerves), including surgically implanted devices, such as spinal cord stimulators and intrathecal pain pumps that block pain signals near the spinal cord

We work with other members of your health care team, including your primary care provider, to develop a plan that addresses all the factors involved in your pain. One of our goals is to empower patients by teaching them about their conditions. We can then partner with them to identify the best methods of relieving pain, promoting healing and improving quality of life.

Established in 1994, the UCSF Center for Pain Medicine has been designated a clinical center of excellence in pain management by the American Pain Society. It also now houses the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's program in pain medicine, which trains the next generation of leaders in this specialty.

As part of our commitment to improving care for chronic pain, the center has many ongoing clinic trials, which are studies that use human volunteers to investigate potential new treatments. We notify current patients if they're eligible to take part in a study, but you don't have to be a UCSF patient to participate.

Conditions we treat

• Arthritis
• Back pain
• Cancer pain
• Central pain syndrome (usually associated with stroke)
• Complex regional pain syndrome
• Fibromyalgia
• Headache
• Musculoskeletal pain
• Myofascial pain
• Nerve pain
• Pelvic pain
• Postsurgical pain
• Post-traumatic pain (pain that persists after an injury has healed)

Learn more about clinical trials and how they work.

Pediatric care

Our team includes pediatric anesthesiologists who complete additional training, such as an accredited fellowship in pediatric pain medicine and board certification in pain medicine.

As pain medicine doctors with a background in pediatric anesthesiology, we work closely with our surgical partners to treat pain associated with surgery.

Our services include:

• Developing plans to manage pain before, during, and after surgery, especially in patients with a history of challenging postoperative pain control, or in patients who already have complex care needs and are concerned about recovery after surgery
• Addressing postoperative pain issues, such as complex regional pain syndrome, medication weaning and chronic postsurgical pain

We also work closely with pediatricians, family practice providers and a multitude of pediatric specialists on a variety of conditions, including:

• Chronic abdominal pain
• Chronic headaches
• Chronic musculoskeletal pain (such as low back pain)
• Fibromyalgia
• Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (a chronic inflammatory disease affecting children's joints)
• Pain related to chronic childhood diseases (such as sickle cell anemia, cancer, myotonic dystrophy type 1, epidermolysis bullosa, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and various autoimmune disorders)
• Pelvic pain
• Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders (conditions causing pain in the jaw and surrounding muscles)