Physicians all aim to help their patients live their best life while remaining in good health. When you experience an injury or are experiencing pain, they all strive to reduce or eliminate it. So what, then, is the role of a pain management doctor? These specialists focus on finding relief for patients living with chronic or intractable pain. In addition to the training received by your family physician, pain management doctors spend an additional year-long fellowship. In addition, they receive a board certification in an area of pain management, such as cancer or sports injuries.
How A Pain Management Professional Can Help You
The majority of pain management doctors focus their practice on sufferers of chronic pain. The conditions they treat can be difficult to diagnose and take significant amounts of time to treat. Throughout the process, they may attempt multiple therapies to determine which works best. Some examples of the conditions they treat include:
- Arthritis
- Fibromyalgia
- Migraines
- Sciatica
While their ultimate goal is to help you find relief from your symptoms, the first step is making a diagnosis. Back pain is a frequently encountered condition faced by many people today. The source of this pain could be anything from poor posture to a herniated disc or a degenerative condition such as arthritis. Once the core source of your pain has been identified, it’s possible to begin finding the right treatment to ease it.
The treatments they use can vary greatly in nature. It’s common for these practitioners to include treatments that are complementary or interventional in nature rather than surgical. The goal is to recede your dependency on medication while improving your quality of life. Acupuncture, massage, yoga, exercise, dietary changes, chiropractic care, and weight loss are all approaches they may take.
This doesn’t mean that medication is off the table. NSAIDs (Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), antidepressants, and muscles relaxants may all be used. In severe cases, they may attempt such approaches as joint injections, epidural steroid injections, nerve blocks, spinal cord stimulation, radiofrequency ablation, and neuromodulation. Surgery is generally left as a last resort in treating chronic pain.
Often you’ll find that the treatment you receive is a coordinated effort. Multidisciplinary approaches often produce superior results to any one methodology. Throughout the entire process, your pain management specialist will keep searching for additional mental and physical concerns. They’ll then focus on the ones that may be affecting or related to your case.
Speak To Your Pain Specialist To Learn More
Living with a chronic pain condition can have a significant impact on the happiness and well-being of the sufferer. These conditions can make simple activities seem impossible and can impact the ability to maintain normal social interaction. Working with a pain management specialist gives you an opportunity to find lasting and meaningful results by receiving help from a specialist in managing pain. These experts are dedicated to finding effective ways to manage your pain. Call today to arrange a pain consultation and begin your journey to a future with less pain and better quality of life.
