Charissa is passionate about painting. She enjoys it so much; she shares her passion with others. After traveling across the state for work, she enjoys coming home at night and opening the studio to teach her painting classes.
But she almost had to give up her favorite pastime because of a car accident that caused excruciating and chronic neck pain.
While driving, Charissa was rear-ended as she was preparing to turn.
Since Charissa’s neck was turned to the side, the impact of the accident damaged the nerves in the back of her neck, causing chronic and debilitating pain.
Charissa tried everything to relieve the pain. She visited doctors, chiropractors, and physical therapists. But the pain was constant. She had to give up many of the activities she enjoyed. Her pain became so severe it changed her personality.
One day as she was traveling through the Wausau area for work, Charissa noticed Bone & Joint offered specialized pain management services.
She called and made an appointment with Dr. Benjamin Hackett, Bone & Joint’s spine surgeon. Dr. Hackett diagnosed Charissa’s nerve damage and explained what was happening. He referred Charissa to Dr. Kulpreet Sahota for treatment.
Dr. Sahota, a pain management specialist at Bone & Joint, saw Charissa and explained how the whiplash-type injury had damaged her nerves. Usually, injuries like Charissa’s improve within 6 months; but Charissa’s symptoms were getting worse instead of better. The relentless pain made it hard for Charissa to function in her daily life, drained her energy and made it almost impossible for her to teach her beloved painting classes.
Dr. Sahota prescribed a procedure called radiofrequency ablation to treat the source of the pain and not just the symptoms. She explained the technique uses heat to deaden the cervical nerves.
Charissa agreed to radiofrequency ablation. After Dr. Sahota performed the procedure, Charissa felt her energy increase. She resumed her painting classes and found she could move painlessly from person to person without triggering excruciating neck pain.
Dr. Sahota sees patients with symptoms like Charissa’s all the time. She enjoys helping people get back to their lives with less pain and discomfort.
“You don’t think a minor accident can alter your life,” said Charissa. “Getting your life back is the greatest feeling in the world.”
Source: The Greatest Feeling in the World
Charissa’s Bone & Joint Story
