1. What is pain management?
Pain management is the medical specialty born out of the need for treating all types of pain, including back pain, spine pain, sciatica, neck pain, shoulder pain, cancer pain. With an accurate diagnosis and early intervention, patient’s pain is relieved to a great extent. Minimally invasive procedures and proper use of medications are implemented to achieve the goals.
Pain management effectively helps thousands of people each year to avoid major surgery.
2. What is a Pain doctor?
Pain doctors are Anesthesiologists who are trained to help reduce chronic pain through a range of interventional and minimally invasive procedures.
3. What does a pain management specialist do?
A pain management specialist is a physician with special training in evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of all different types of pain. The degree of Pain can vary from acute to severe. As the field of medicine learns more about the complexities of pain, it has become more important to have physicians with specialized knowledge and skills to treat these conditions. An in-depth knowledge of the physiology of pain, the ability to evaluate patients with complicated pain problems, understanding of specialized tests for diagnosing painful conditions, appropriate prescribing of medications to varying pain problems, and skills to perform procedures (such as nerve blocks, epidural injections and other interventional techniques) are all part of what a pain management specialist uses to treat pain. With an increasing number of new and complex drugs, techniques, and technologies becoming available every year for the treatment of pain, the pain management physician is uniquely trained to use this new knowledge safely and effectively to help their patients.
4. What should I expect during my first visit to a pain management specialist?
On your first visit to a pain management specialist, doctor will evaluate your pain problem. This will usually involve a past and current medical history, a physical examination. You will be asked detailed questions about your pain problem, and you will probably be asked to bring any imaging studies (such as X-rays, CT scans, or MRI scans) or other tests that have already been done. Most importantly, this visit is an opportunity for your pain physician to analyze all of this new information and discuss with you an initial assessment of your pain problem. Doctor may know exactly what is causing your pain, or perhaps further diagnostic procedures will be needed. But no matter what type of problem you have, you should leave this first visit with a clearer understanding of your pain and the course of further evaluation and treatment that is planned.
5. How can Interventional Pain Management help my back pain?
Avoiding major spine surgery is the primary goal while managing your back pain. Almost 60-75% patients can avoid the back surgery and get back to their normal life within few days of pain treatment.
The minimally invasive pain procedures not only avoid high surgery costs but also save time. The recovery period of a Pain Procedure is very less compared to a spine surgery.