Everything about Pain Management totally explained
Pain management (also called pain medicine) is the discipline concerned with the relief of
pain.
Types of pain
Acute pain, such as occurs with
trauma, often has a reversible cause and may require only transient measures and correction of the underlying problem. In contrast,
chronic pain often results from conditions that are difficult to diagnose and treat, and that may take a long time to reverse. Some examples include
cancer,
neuropathy, and
referred pain. Often, pain pathways (
nociceptors) are set up that continue to transmit the sensation of pain even though the underlying condition or injury that originally caused pain has been healed. In such situations, the pain itself is frequently managed separately from the underlying condition of which it's a symptom, or the goal of treatment is to manage the pain with no treatment of any underlying condition (for example if the underlying condition has resolved or if no identifiable source of the pain can be found).
Methods
Pain management generally benefits from a
multidisciplinary approach that includes
pharmacologic measures (
analgesics such as
narcotics or
NSAIDs and
pain modifiers such as
tricyclic antidepressants or
anticonvulsants), non-pharmacologic measures (such as interventional procedures, physical therapy and
physical exercise, application of ice and/or heat), and
psychological measures (such as
biofeedback and
cognitive therapy).
Scrambler Therapy
A new non-invasive pain management device rapidly treats high-intensity oncologic and neuropathic pain, including pain resistant to morphine and other drugs. The pain-management therapy device, developed with a biophysical rather than a biochemical approach, employes single-use surface electrodes applied to the skin, which are used to simulate five artificial neurons. The electronic nerve stimulation uses the nerve fiber as a passive means to convey a message of normality to the central nervous system (CNS) by a procedure defined as scrambling or mixing of information, which then enables the CNS to recognize the signal as a non-algic one and modify the reflex adaptive responses accordingly. The device--currently referred to as the transcutaneous electromanipulation by nervous patterns scrambler --uses a Scrambler, a multiprocessor apparatus able to simultaneously treat multiple pain areas in the individual. The device, which was developed by Professor Giuseppe Marineo, Ph.D., a researcher and bioengineer.
Medical specialties
Pain management practitioners come from all fields of medicine. Most often, pain fellowship trained physicians are
anesthesiologists,
neurologists,
physiatrists or
psychiatrists. Some practitioners focus more on the pharmacologic management of the patient, while others are very proficient at the interventional management of pain. Interventional procedures - typically used for chronic back pain - include: epidural steroid injections, facet joint injections, neurolytic blocks,
Spinal Cord Stimulators and
intrathecal drug delivery system implants, etc. Over the last several years the number of interventional procedures done for pain has grown to a very large number.
As well as medical practitioners, the area of pain management may often benefit from the input of
Physiotherapists,
Chiropractors,
Clinical Psychologists and
Occupational therapists, amongst others. Together the multidisciplinary team can help create a package of care suitable to the patient.
One of the pain management modalities are trigger point injections and nerve blocks utilizing long acting anesthetics and small doses of steroids.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Pain Management'.
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