Specialties: Interventional Pain Management
Dr. Kenneth Sykes earned his Medical degree from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. He earned a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Iowa and a PhD in Chemistry from Temple University. He completed his pain management fellowship and anesthesia residency at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He is board certified in anesthesiology and pain medicine. He is a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
Dr. Sykes’ specialty is Interventional Pain Management. He takes an active role in treating patients whose chronic pain cannot be managed through surgery, physical therapy, or traditional medications. He offers advanced treatment options for patients who are living in pain caused by a variety of medical conditions. He performs injections, nerve blocks, and other procedures designed to reduce the amount of pain in various parts of the body. Dr. Sykes uses state-of-the-art, high quality treatments to offer a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach to caring for his patients.
Dr. Sykes utilizes several advanced treatment options:
• Radiofrequency Denervation: Radiofrequency current is used to heat a small volume of nerve tissue interrupting pain signals from that specific area.
• Percutaneous Disc Decompression: A minimally invasive treatment for patients with herniated discs. The procedure removes damaged or protruding spinal disc tissue which relieves nerve pressure that causes back and radiculopathy (leg pain).
• Genicular Nerve Block: Candidates for this type of block include patients who have knee pain from various causes including: degenerative osteoarthritis, ligament damage, or continued pain after a knee replacement. This outpatient procedure injects anesthetic to the Genicular nerves. Anesthetizing these nerves can interrupt pain signals to the brain.
• Vertebroplasty/Kyphoplasty: Candidates for this treatment option include patients with an acute vertebral compression fracture (collapse of vertebra) most often caused by osteoporosis and trauma. This is a safe and effective outpatient procedure that offers rapid relief, increased mobility, improved quality of life, and low complications.
• Spinal Cord Stimulator Device, Neurostimulation: An outpatient procedure where a neurostimulation system is surgically placed under the skin to send mild electrical impulses to the spinal cord or to a peripheral nerve, blocking pain signals to the brain.
• Intrathecal Pump: Outpatient/inpatient surgical treatment. A catheter (thin flexible tube) is implanted in the intrathecal space and is connected to a pump releasing medicine to pain receptors in the spinal cord.
Dr. Sykes relocated to Middle Tennessee in fall 2015. In his free time, Dr. Sykes likes to exercise and workout. He likes to listen to and play a variety of instruments: piano, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, and drums. Many of Dr. Sykes’ favorite extracurricular activities involve hanging out with his family. He and his lovely wife, Sun Jeong, have four young children.
Presently, Dr. Sykes is only seeing patients when referred from a primary care physician. Please have your treating physician call our office at 931-381-2663 to schedule your appointment.
