Pain Management in the 21st Century

View the Podcast here. Chronic pain affects nearly 90 million Americans. It usually begins with a sports injury, car accident or health condition like migraines, diabetes, arthritis and cancer.  Chronic pain is different from the acute pain of stubbing your toe and often feels like burning, shooting, or shocking sensations.  The good news is that today’s pain specialists have sophisticated new treatments — from medications to advanced technologies — to provide chronic pain relief.    Chronic pain can be classified as nociceptive or neuropathic pain.  In some cases (nociceptive pain) the body’s nervous system is working properly, relaying signals to the brain that there is an injury.  But in neuropathic pain the nervous system is not functioning properly.  There is no obvious source of pain but the body continues to tell the brain that injury is present.  Treatment is guided by the history of the pain, its intensity, duration, aggravating and relieving conditions.  The concept behind most interventional procedures for pain control is that there is a specific structure in the body with nerves of sensation that is generating the pain. Repair or replacement of the damaged structure may be all that is needed to bring relief. For neuropathic pain, specialists have multiple tools at their disposal – painkillers, injections, physical therapy, massage, heat therapy and use an individualized approach to attack symptoms from multiple angles.   T...
Source: Dr. Donna, MedicineWoman - Category: Medical Scientists Authors: Tags: Cancer Integrative medicine Personal Health accupuncture arthritis diabetic neuropathy management massage migraine pain PENS treatment Source Type: blogs