Did you know that approximately 1.5 billion people in the world are living with chronic pain? 100 million patients are living here in the United States, with chronic pain showing up in their daily lives. Not only is the pain making it hard to sleep, but it also causes serious disruptions to activities at home and work.
If you are a person living with chronic pain, then rest assured, knowing that help is available.
Most people walk the same journey: meeting with their primary care physician and talking to different doctors to explore different treatment options.
Eventually, if these treatments don’t seem to work, you might feel hopeless. It’s hard to think that you will need to live with chronic pain for the rest of your life.
But there is hope! The best option is to reach out to a pain management clinic to learn more about available services. Our pain management specialists have worked with many patients and achieved great results.
How Pain Management Differs from Traditional Medical Treatments
The processes and experience in a pain management clinic are different from what you can get through a general physician. Our team at Kentuckiana Pain Specialists only works with pain management patients. Since we are specialized, we have a much deeper knowledge about helping patients overcome chronic pain.
In comparison, a primary care physician works with many different patients and various health conditions throughout the day. Since they don’t have a specialty in pain management, available treatments are limited.
Generally, you will find that primary care physicians recommend medications because they don’t have many other treatments available. Or, if the physician can see that their expertise is limited, then they will refer you to talk to a pain management specialist instead.
What to Expect from a Pain Management Clinic
One of the advantages of choosing a pain management clinic over a general provider is that you can work with an entire team of healthcare experts that specialize in pain management specifically.
We use a multi-disciplinary approach to provide full-service solutions for patients of all ages. These integrative services can include support from many different experts, depending on your unique needs: doctors, physical therapists, nurses, vocational therapists, psychologists, occupational therapists, dieticians, and more.
We start with an in-depth diagnostic process to understand the underlying cause of your pain. By identifying the root cause, then we can design a treatment plan that works for your unique needs. Every patient is different, which is why there isn’t a one-size-fits-all treatment plan for every person.
Two Goals for Pain Management Services
When you are working with our pain management team, we have two goals in mind:
- Immediate Relief: You are ready for a break from the pain, and our first priority is to help with these immediate results. For example, there are times when medications might be used short-term to alleviate the symptoms, allowing other treatment methods to be used.
- Long-Term Relief: Next, our focus turns to help you achieve the long-term results that you desire. When we focus on the root cause, it’s possible to not only treat the pain but also prevent it from returning in the future.
While we hope to cure the pain, certain conditions can’t be cured. But the good news is that pain management can help to alleviate the symptoms and make your daily life more comfortable.
Ultimately, pain management is a great way to improve your overall quality of life. When addressing the pain, you find that so many areas of your life improve. For example, living without pain makes you more functional at work, at home, and in social settings.
It’s also interesting to note how much mood and emotions can improve when implementing pain management services. Alleviating your pain can free up your emotional and mental capabilities, so you can focus on other things at work or with your family.
Pain Management: A Great Option to Avoid Narcotics and Surgery
Patients often seek pain management services because they are looking for solutions to avoid the need to have surgery or depend on pain medications. In addition, general doctors will often turn to these two options because they don’t have experience with alternative treatments.
Yes, there is a time and place to use pain medications. Over-the-counter or prescription pills can sometimes provide the short-term relief that you need. But the problem is that the pain relief stops as soon as the pill wears off.
Plus, there is a growing concern about medication addictions. Too often, pain patients find themselves more and more dependent on medications, needing to take higher doses and more frequent usage because they build a tolerance to the medications.
Pain management services can be effective to help as a patient is detoxing from medication dependence or addiction. Additionally, these pain management services go beyond basic symptom management. Our goal is to get to the root cause of your pain, helping you find the long-lasting relief you deserve.
Additionally, pain management is also a great solution if you are looking for ways to avoid surgery. If you can control the pain, it might be possible to avoid or eliminate the need to have invasive surgery.
Unique Services Available from a Pain Management Clinic
You’ll notice that your experience differs when visiting a pain management clinic. Our team takes the time to discuss your condition, complete thorough diagnostics, and identify the best treatment plan for your unique needs.
We partner with each patient, giving you full access to a team of pain management specialists who are at your service. When pain medications are no longer working, a pain management team can be invaluable.
We use a comprehensive approach, offering a holistic view of managing pain. These services go far beyond medications, using a combination of alternative therapies such as biofeedback, radiofrequency, injections, nerve blocks, and more.
One focus is to help patients start moving more. By alleviating the pain to get you in motion again, it helps with overall function and mobility. So getting patients active again is an important goal, not only for alleviating the pain but also to improve the overall quality of life.
Call a Local Pain Management Clinic to Learn More
If you think it might be time for pain management services, we invite you to schedule a consultation with our team at Kentuckiana Pain Specialists. We specialize in pain management and provide services you can’t access through general practitioners.
Learn more about our comprehensive pain management support by scheduling a consultation in our Louisville, Kentucky, office. You are invited to call our office any time if you have questions about these services: (502) 995-4004.