Pain management

Indications

Patients who have had pain for usually longer than three months from the same source or in the same region can be said to have chronic pain. Pain may be due to injury, surgery, trauma, or no identifiable cause. Chronic pain sources can be treated by various means to help control the pain and keep the process of pain management moving forward. Patients who have pain that is causing them difficulty with functioning daily in life can also be good candidates for pain management. These conditions may be chronic or intermittently painful, but cause the person to have to deal with unbearable pain on a day to day basis.

What to expect

Patients can expect to have an evaluation of what caused the pain. It will include a physical exam, a history of the process, health conditions of the patient, and review of prior treatments and medications. Also, an objective diagnostic study may be done or reviewed if recent, such as a CT or MRI scan of the suspected pain generation area. These procedures can be ordered after the evaluation to help confirm the findings and presumed generation of pain from the assessment. A treatment plan is then formulated, and the expected, reasonable outcomes of pain management discussed. Not every outcome will result in the immediate eradication of all pain. However, this does not mean the issue can’t be resolved with multiple procedures or combined therapies. There are many different conditions, and various treatments can be suggested and used to help with both improved outcome, function and diagnosis.