Interventional Spine
I thought I'd introduce you to my other half and business partner, Dr. Kenneth Willeford MD if you haven't met him over the years at the Brunswich (Norvant) Community hospital in the operating room, or labor and delivery or as a pain pastient in our Supply, NC Interventional Pain Managment Center.
If you live local we are now scheduling patients in our new NMB office so hurry and get your appointment locked-in before the dreaded waiting list happens! We are excited for our next entrepreneural adventure in SC, and it will be so nice to be working in our backyard with our neighbors and community friends! We are now strategically positioned right on Main Street, NMB! Dr. Ken Willeford will be in the NMB office 2 days a week and you can call either phone number to get scheduled.
Ken Willeford obtained his degree in physics, and started his career as a research physicist. He then went on to complete medical school, and obtained Board Certification in Anesthesiology. Dr. Willeford relocated from Sacramento, California to developed the Rural Coastal Community Brunswick Hospital Department of Anesthesia, and serve as 1st Anesthesiologist in the county 1993! Dr. Willeford functioned as the Department Chairman of Anesthesia, as well as served as Chief of Staff. He developed in-house Pain Management opportunities for out-patients for well over a decade before he left his position at the hospital and Anesthesiology behind to specialized further Interventional Pain and left for one year to complete his fellowship in Pennsylvania. Upon return he opened the county's first office based out-patient Interventional Spine Pain Management.
Dr. Willeford founded Brunswick County's first Interventional Pain Management Facility in 2005 to not only address the lack of trained pain management physicians but also the opioid crises in our community. In 2013, he founded the county's 1st Addiction Medicine Clinic to address the escalting opioid epidemic in the county. Dr. Willeford worked to educate colleagues and mid-level providers in our area regarding the long-term consequences of misdiagnosing, and the over- prescribing of narcotics with addiction consequences. Dr. Willeford leads the addiction healthcare initiative in Brunswick County partnering with local Mental Health Professions, the Addiction Task Force, the Brunswick County Government, Sheriffs Department, and our local term treatment facilities. We utillize technology, screen for OUD in primary care and work to improve communications with local healthcare to increase treatment access while working to limit the barriers to care. Establishing local Addiction Medicine and Recovery Programs has been shown to not only reduce the stigma of the diagnosis of addiction, but also improve the long-term outcomes when community members struggling with addiction are able to receive care in their home towns and stay connected with long term in their community. Click here to read more about addiction stigma.
Interventional Pain Management is a sub-specialty of Anesthesiology and is committed to the proper diagnosis and treatment of pain and related disorders utilizing Interventional techniques including nerve blocks with local anesthetics and/or anti-inflammatory steroids, intraspinal steroids, radiofrequency ablation, neuroaugmentation techniques including spinal cord stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation, and implantable drug delivery systems. We have cures every single day, after treatment and sometimes do not see the patient back for years! There is treatment before back surgery!
Patients needing interventional pain management services suffer distress and discomfort caused by a variety of conditions and disorders, including:
Invasive Treatments The Pain Center offers a variety of treatments, including:
If you live local we are now scheduling patients in our new NMB office so hurry and get your appointment locked-in before the dreaded waiting list happens! We are excited for our next entrepreneural adventure in SC, and it will be so nice to be working in our backyard with our neighbors and community friends! We are now strategically positioned right on Main Street, NMB! Dr. Ken Willeford will be in the NMB office 2 days a week and you can call either phone number to get scheduled.
Ken Willeford obtained his degree in physics, and started his career as a research physicist. He then went on to complete medical school, and obtained Board Certification in Anesthesiology. Dr. Willeford relocated from Sacramento, California to developed the Rural Coastal Community Brunswick Hospital Department of Anesthesia, and serve as 1st Anesthesiologist in the county 1993! Dr. Willeford functioned as the Department Chairman of Anesthesia, as well as served as Chief of Staff. He developed in-house Pain Management opportunities for out-patients for well over a decade before he left his position at the hospital and Anesthesiology behind to specialized further Interventional Pain and left for one year to complete his fellowship in Pennsylvania. Upon return he opened the county's first office based out-patient Interventional Spine Pain Management.
Dr. Willeford founded Brunswick County's first Interventional Pain Management Facility in 2005 to not only address the lack of trained pain management physicians but also the opioid crises in our community. In 2013, he founded the county's 1st Addiction Medicine Clinic to address the escalting opioid epidemic in the county. Dr. Willeford worked to educate colleagues and mid-level providers in our area regarding the long-term consequences of misdiagnosing, and the over- prescribing of narcotics with addiction consequences. Dr. Willeford leads the addiction healthcare initiative in Brunswick County partnering with local Mental Health Professions, the Addiction Task Force, the Brunswick County Government, Sheriffs Department, and our local term treatment facilities. We utillize technology, screen for OUD in primary care and work to improve communications with local healthcare to increase treatment access while working to limit the barriers to care. Establishing local Addiction Medicine and Recovery Programs has been shown to not only reduce the stigma of the diagnosis of addiction, but also improve the long-term outcomes when community members struggling with addiction are able to receive care in their home towns and stay connected with long term in their community. Click here to read more about addiction stigma.
Interventional Pain Management is a sub-specialty of Anesthesiology and is committed to the proper diagnosis and treatment of pain and related disorders utilizing Interventional techniques including nerve blocks with local anesthetics and/or anti-inflammatory steroids, intraspinal steroids, radiofrequency ablation, neuroaugmentation techniques including spinal cord stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation, and implantable drug delivery systems. We have cures every single day, after treatment and sometimes do not see the patient back for years! There is treatment before back surgery!
Patients needing interventional pain management services suffer distress and discomfort caused by a variety of conditions and disorders, including:
- Chronic low back and neck pain
- Chronic reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) or complex regional pain syndrome
- Chronic head, mouth and face pain
- Postsurgical procedures
- Malignancy
- Post-traumatic pain syndrome
- Muscle and/or bone pain
Invasive Treatments The Pain Center offers a variety of treatments, including:
- Epidural injections (cervical, thoracic, lumbar and caudal)
- Selective epidural and root blocks (cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral)
- Facet injections and medical branch blocks (cervical, thoracic and lumbar)
- Sympathetic blocks (stellate ganglion, thoracic, lumbar and hypogastric)
- Discography
- Peripheral nerve blocks
- Radiofrequency
- Spinal cord stimulation
- Neurolytics of celiac plexus and cancer pain
- Intrathecal and epidural infusion systems
U.S. Patents
- BRONCHOSCOPY OXYGENATION SYSTEM
- Method and Medical Device For Treating Osteoarthritis Noninvasively
- Patent WO/201/102837
- Computerized Method Searching Program For Codes in Texts (Bible) 2010
- Method and Composition for the Treatment of Skin Conditions 2010
- Bladder Surgical Warming System 2008
- Acne, Psoriasis, Eczema Skincare Pharmaceutical Treatment Solution 2010