Is Pain Management Right for You?

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Pain is a complex problem that may require treatment by a pain medicine specialist. Millions of people suffer pain every year at great personal cost. According to the American Academy of Pain Medicine, pain affects more Americans than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined.

Many people can control their pain effectively with over-the-counter or prescription medications or treatments offered by their physician(s). When pain cannot be managed using these methods, a pain specialist should be consulted. For most people in constant moderate to severe pain, pain management is a way to regain function and improve quality of life.  

There are many different physical and neurological disorders that contribute to pain, and pain management can provide you with more advanced care specifically aimed at controlling these conditions. Some of the pain-causing disorders treated by pain management specialists include:
 

• Arachnoiditis
• Arthritis (osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis)
• Back and neck pain
• Cancer pain
• Failed back surgery
• Fibromyalgia
• Migraine and other types of headache
• Osteoporosis
• Radicular pain (cervical or lumbar radiculopathy)
• Shingles (postherpetic neuralgia)
• Spinal Stenosis
• Spinal tumor
• Temporomandibular joint dysfunction
• Trigeminal neuralgia
• Vertebral compression fracture

Most physicians can refer patients dealing with chronic pain to a qualified pain specialist. Pain can be complex to treat and certain types of pain may only be well controlled after treatment by a pain specialist.