SPRINGFIELD — A local sports medicine doctor has introduced a new osteopathic procedure to Mercy Medical Center in Springfield.

The procedure, called Intracept , aims to improve living conditions for people suffering from a certain type of chronic lower back pain, called vertebrogenic pain.

“It’s the second most common reason people come to the doctor’s office after the common cold,” said Dr. John Pantuosco, a doctor of osteopathic medicine at Pioneer Spine and Sports Physicians in West Springfield.

The procedure, Pantuosco said, is minimally invasive and relieves pain and improves function for patients long term. It also decreases their use of opioids or other treatments, he said.

Pantuosco’s sports medicine clinic has been offering the treatment over the last year and a half, but wanted to expand to reach more clients.

“We built a pathway between our clinic and Mercy Medical Center,” he said.

Mercy is the only hospital in Springfield to offer the procedure, though other hospitals around the state and country offer it as well. Pantuosco explained he first learned of the procedure while doing a fellowship in Birmingham, Alabama.

The vertebrogenic pain can be felt by anyone, he said.

“Sitting too long, bending in certain ways, and sometimes standing can be too painful,” he said, but there are a number of steps before a person can get the procedure, the cost of which is covered by several private insurance plans and Medicare, he said.

The patient will get an MRI, and the scans would have to show they are experiencing degenerative changes to the discs in their back.

“It’s a difficult population to treat,” he said. While there are some treatments for people who suffer from the condition, like injections and physical therapy, some patients experience longer-term symptoms.

The Intracept procedure was created by Marlborough-based biomedical manufacturing firm Boston Scientific. The procedure starts with a tiny incision, “no larger than a baby Aspirin,” he said. Health care providers performing the procedure then use the guidance of an X-ray machine to thread a wire into a patient’s lower back.

The wire burns the affected nerve, essentially causing it to eventually lose feeling — therefore, stopping the pain, he said.

There are some side effects after the surgery, like minimal soreness, he said. “Patients go home the day of their procedure,” he said.

The healing time is just under two weeks, he explained.

“Patients report some soreness but are otherwise able to get back to routine activities after their surgery,” he said.