Jasper, Georgia

Pain Relief for Life in the North Georgia Mountains

Jasper is Georgia’s “First Mountain City,” the gateway to the Blue Ridge foothills, Amicalola Falls, and hiking access to the southern Appalachian Trail. It’s also home to Big Canoe, Bent Tree, and other mountain communities where a lot of our patients have spent decades staying active outdoors. That kind of lifestyle is great for the body until a fall on the trail, a bad step on uneven ground, or simple age-related wear turns into chronic neck, back, or joint pain. Summit Spine & Joint Centers’ Jasper clinic gives Pickens, Cherokee, Dawson, Fannin, and Gilmer County residents a board-certified pain team without the drive down to Atlanta.

Patients travel to our Gordon Road office from Ball Ground, Canton, Dawsonville, Ellijay, Fairmount, and the Talking Rock area, and a good number are longtime Big Canoe or Bent Tree residents managing arthritis or disc problems that have built up gradually. Others are dealing with a specific injury, such as a hard fall or a strained back from yard work. We start with a physical exam, a review of prior imaging, and a plan that favors non-surgical treatment first.

Pickens County's outdoor lifestyle and older, active population bring our Jasper physicians a variety of medical conditions.

Common Conditions

Our Jasper physicians diagnose the following issues most often, from trail injuries to the wear that comes with decades of an active mountain lifestyle.

• Back Pain: often from a fall on uneven terrain, yard work on a sloped lot, or muscle strain and arthritis that build up over the years.
• Degenerative Disc Disease: natural wear of the discs between the vertebrae, common among longtime Big Canoe and Bent Tree residents.
• Herniated Discs: disc material pressing on nearby nerves, sometimes from a hiking or gardening injury, sometimes from years of accumulated strain.
• Facet Joint Pain: breakdown of the small joints connecting the vertebrae, causing pain that worsens with movement.
• Lumbar Radiculopathy (Sciatica): nerve compression in the lower back that sends pain, numbness, or weakness down the leg.
• Spinal Stenosis: narrowing of the spinal canal that puts pressure on nerves, especially common in an older mountain community.

Complex and Chronic Pain Conditions

Some patients arrive without a clear diagnosis. These conditions call for a personalized workup built around the whole patient, not just one symptom.

• Fibromyalgia: widespread body pain that's notoriously difficult to diagnose, sometimes mistaken for arthritis or overuse.
• Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS): ongoing pain and skin changes in a limb following an injury or nerve malfunction, not uncommon after a fall on uneven ground.
• Post-Laminectomy/Failed Back Syndrome: pain that persists or returns after a previous back surgery.

Every one of these conditions responds differently. Jasper's care plans begin with non-surgical back pain treatment and escalate only when necessary.

Injections & Diagnostic Blocks

Most Jasper treatment plans begin here, calming inflammation and, in some cases, confirming precisely where the pain is coming from.

• Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injection: targets low back pain radiating into the leg.
• Cervical Epidural Steroid Injection: targets shoulder, neck, or arm pain.
• Lumbar Transforaminal Epidural Steroid Injection: a more targeted approach for nerve root pain.
• Facet Joint Injections: for arthritis in the facet joints of the spine.
• Medial Branch Block: confirms a facet joint as the pain source.
• Sacroiliac Joint Injections: for low back and buttock pain from SI joint dysfunction.

Nerve Ablation for Longer-Lasting Relief

When an injection helps but wears off too quickly, these procedures use heat to interrupt the nerve signals for relief that lasts longer.

• Lumbar Radiofrequency Neurotomy: disrupts the nerves that carry chronic lower back pain.
• Cervical Facet Radiofrequency Neurotomy: disrupts the nerves that bring chronic neck pain.
• Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA): heat-based nerve treatment for sacroiliac or facet joint pain.
• Rhizotomy: disrupts nerve roots for chronic neck, back, or joint pain.
• Genicular Radiofrequency Ablation: for chronic knee pain due to arthritis or injury, which is common after years on mountain trails.

Targeted Nerve Blocks for Complex Pain

For pain that begins outside the spine, whether from shingles, nerve damage, or CRPS, these blocks target the sympathetic nerves driving it.

• Celiac Plexus Block: for chronic pelvic or abdominal pain.
• Stellate Ganglion Block: for CRPS or shingles-related pain in the face, head, arm, or neck.
• Lumbar Sympathetic Block: for CRPS-related leg pain.

Advanced Options for Complex or Chronic Cases

When conservative treatment isn't working, or the diagnosis itself needs to be confirmed, our Jasper providers will turn to these more intensive procedures.

• Discography: a diagnostic procedure that pinpoints which disc is causing the pain.
• MILD Procedure: clears space in the spinal canal to relieve lumbar spinal stenosis.
• Vertiflex Superion: an implant procedure for lumbar spinal stenosis.
• Intrathecal Pump Implant: provides pain medication to the spinal fluid for severe pain that's unresponsive.

Jasper patients are cared for by Dr. An D. Do, who is double board certified by the American Board of Pain Medicine and the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He trained at Montefiore Medical Center in New York before returning to Georgia for his pain management fellowship, and he builds each plan around restoring function, not just relieving pain in the moment.

The Pooler team works to see new patients quickly, often within 24 hours. Call us or request an appointment online, and we’ll handle the rest, including insurance verification.

Contact Us