What can you expect from a pain management specialist?

0
331

Pain management is a healthcare provider who evaluates pain and treats pain-related problems. A pain management healthcare provider treats pains like headaches, long-lasting aches, chronic pain or low back pain and offers a mix of procedures and medication-based treatment. It may stop the pain from the source.

The pain management care provider treats the patient and can send him home on the same day. It is important to look for the pain management doctor jersey city.

Forms of pain that a pain management healthcare provider treat.

The pains that a pain management provider treats fall into three groups.

The tissue injury-related pain like arthritis.

Pain due to a condition related to the nervous system or nerve injury like stroke.

A mix of nerve injury and tissue-like back pain.

Disorders caused by tissue injury.

  • Osteoarthritis (wear and tear of the large joints like knees, and hips)
  • Rheumatoid arthritis (auto-immune reaction pain in small joints such as wrists and fingers)

Nervous system or nerve disorders

Post-stroke pain

Multiple sclerosis

Spinal cord injury

Neuropathy (Nerve pain due to HIV, diabetes, shingles)

Mixed pain disorder

Neck pain

Back Pain

Cancer.

A pain management care provider’s background.

Pain management specialists have over nine years of medical training.

 Firstly, they may gain a broad education in medical school.

 They may get four years of hands-on training in a field such as anesthesiology, rehabilitation, physical medicine or neurology.

Finally, they have to complete one more year of training solely focusing on pain, and they have to get a certificate from the American Board of Pain Medicine.

A diverse treatment approach

Pain management starts with primary health care, basic pain medicine and physical therapy or massage. However, your primary healthcare provider will send you the pain management care provider. Pain management care providers are trained to treat you in a step-wise manner.

First-line treatment also involves medications (like anti-inflammation, anti-depressants, and muscle relaxants) and injections that numb pain (nerve stimulators-spinal injections). TENS (Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulators- units using skin pads delivering low-voltage electrical current to the painful areas) are used.

Second-line treatments are advanced procedures like radiofrequency ablation (RFA) or viscosupplementation. During RFA, chemical agents or heat are applied to a nerve to stop pain signals. Healthcare provider uses RFA to treat chronic pain condition like spinal arthritis. Viscosupplementation is a lubricating fluid that is directly injected into joints. At this stage, the healthcare provider can prescribe stronger medicine.

Third-line treatment involves a spinal cord stimulator or pain pump implantation. Healthcare providers use these treatments to relieve pain in the spinal cord: the control centre for pain sensing. Regenerative treatment is the second option at this stage.

Pain Management care provider

Communication is a major link in the doctor-patient relationship. Compassion and medical experience are the other qualities to consider in pain management specialists. You must look for these qualities in pain management healthcare providers.

  • In-depth knowledge.
  • Ability to evaluate patients with pain disorders.
  • Appropriate prescription of medicine.
  • Ability to use multiple tests to identify the root cause of pain.
  • Skills with specific procedures like nerve blocks, pain pumps, and spinal injections.
  • A network of care providers like surgical evaluation, physical therapist, or psychological support.
  • Treatment is in line with a belief system and a patient’s wishes.
  • Up-to-date equipment.
  • Support office staff.

Pain management clinic

Healthcare providers see pain patients as an outpatient in the facility with procedure rooms, ultrasounds and x-ray imaging. In certain cases, the pain management provider performs his procedure in a nearby facility. He may offer sedation during treatments.

Pain management providers at complete medical wellness are aimed at helping pain patients. They will pinpoint the cause of the pain and rectify it accordingly.