As the premiere pain relief organization in the Valley, we’re often asked the question, “What is pain management?” Considering the fact that more than 86 million Americans suffer from chronic pain, most patients and inquiries understand that pain management involves some degree of finding the pain and fixing it through medications or surgery. But that’s about it; that’s the extent of what most people understand about pain management.
In reality, pain management, whether you’re an athlete playing through chronic pain like the incredible athletes we recently interviewed from the PBA, or you’re an average Joe finding it harder and harder to sit at the computer all day, is the ability to find the root of the pain, and either diminish that pain completely or control the pain to allow you to get back into life.
Pain Specialist – What is a Pain Doctor?
A pain specialist, or pain doctor, is an expert at diagnosing and treating pain. Many times, a pain doctor is much like a project manager, able to seamlessly bring together a multidisciplinary team of medical experts to plan out your map to recovery.
A pain doctor has their own set of specialties within medicine. For example, at The Pain Center of Arizona, each pain doctor has a specialty that they excel at. Dr. Siwek is a leader in the industry of interventional spinal injections and spinal stimulation. Dr. Doust specializes in cancer pain management. Dr. Todd Turley is an expert in the field of cacner pain and disk decompression, and Dr. Bucholz has a high understanding of pediatric pain as well as chronic pain in African-Americans.
A pain doctor is much like the quarterback. He or she has extensive experience in this position, is excellent at reading the pain signals that your body is giving, understands your medical history, knows your family’s history, is familiar with your daily routines, your diet and exercise schedules. The quarterback directs everyone on the field, much like a pain doctor does.
He or she will coordinate with physical therapists, primary care physicians, massage therapists, psychologists, pharmacists, and many more medical disciplines to get you the treatment you need.
Pain Management – Will it Truly Relieve the Pain?
The goal of pain management is to get you back into life; to get you moving, living, and feeling like yourself again. Pain management takes a multidisciplinary approach to pain, not just managing the pain itself, but focusing on the totally person.
While most patients understand that pain management involves relieving pain, what may come as a surprise is how far many pain doctors will go to get patients back to living their full lives. The ultimate goal is to relieve the pain completely, however it that is not possible or if it takes some time, complete pain management aims to control the pain enough to have lasting positive effects on your daily life.
For example, by controlling pain a patient might feel energized enough to cook a healthier meal, and from that they just might feel strong enough to take a walk, or run, around the block. From that they might feel inspired enough to venture out into the world again, have a date night or spend time with friends. Slowly they will realize that they are getting back into their lives, and slowly they will realize that they are living well with chronic pain.
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Topic: cancer pain management, disk decompression, doust, exercise schedules, pain doctor, pain signals, pain specialist, pediatric pain, spinal injections, spinal stimulation