Pain Management

What Is Pain?

The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines pain as an unpleasant sensory and/or emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. Pain is actually a message sent along the nerves to let the brain know that something is damaging the body. The brain responds by sending a message to the muscles or organ to take action. Pain Management is how you deal with this pain.

In the medical world, all pain is divided into two categories: acute pain and chronic pain.

Acute pain is temporary, and goes away quickly. It’s useful, since it usually warns you of sources of harm and tells your body to protect itself while it’s healing.

Chronic pain is pain that is unpleasant and lasts for prolonged periods of time. Generally if you’ve been experiencing pain in the same place for 3 months or more, that pain is likely to be classified as chronic. Since it lasts so long, it does not serve as a useful warning.

Who Suffers from Pain?

More than 21% of adult Americans suffer from moderate or severe chronic pain, to the point that they choose to seek the help of a physician. Pain is the second most common reason that people visit doctors, exceeded only by cold and upper respiratory infections. However, The National Institute of Health claims that 40 million Americans are unable to find relief from their chronic pain.

At Organic Medical Clinic, we are very dedicated to providing all of our patients with the most effective pain management program possible. Our goal is pain alleviation—a goal often attained by our expert staff; however, when it is not possible to completely get rid of pain, we can assure you that we do our best to make the pain tolerable and improve the patients’ functional status.

What Are the Steps in Pain Treatment?

Pain treatment begins with an assessment of the severity of the pain. Commonly, the first steps of treatment are rest, application of cold or heat, and intake of OTC (over the counter) medication.

The next step in the treatment of pain is a combination of physical therapy and prescribed pain medication. It is important to note that sometimes, interventional pain management needs to be started prior to physical therapy in order to stop acute pain (i.e. acute radiculopathy) and allow the patient to comply with necessary exercise.

If prescribed pain medication and physical therapy don’t work, the next step is usually interventional pain management, unless the patient has acute loss of function or acute neurological deficit (in which case surgery is needed).

How Do We Treat Pain?

At Organic Medical Clinic, we specialize in treating chronic distress through the use of pain medication. Due to the rapid advances of modern medicine, there are now many varied pain treatments available. The degree of ache varies from person to person, so your treatment plan will be tailored to your specific needs and circumstances. Pain medication treatment may include a single approach or a combination of pain medications such as:

Painkillers
Anti-inflammatory drugs
Antidepressants
Anti-seizure medicines
Other medicines

A panel of 11 independent experts at the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, state that the active ingredients in cannabis (marijuana) appear to be useful for treating pain. Therefore, it is one of the treatment options for which our doctors write recommendations. We offer a 24-hour verification service of your medical recommendation and full-color patient photo ID cards with tamper-proof security background.

Your pain management physician at Organic Medical Clinic may prescribe other types of medicine that are more specific to the type of pain you are experiencing.

Initial Consultation

Comprehensive examination by a staff physician
Evaluation of medical history and records
Set personal goals
Development of individualized pain management plan
Assessment guidelines for continuum of care
Thorough explanation of appropriate pain medications
Office visit: 20-40 minutes

If necessary

Additional screening and diagnostic testing referrals (MRI, etc.)
Referrals to non-pharmacological treatment facilities, such as physical therapy

Continuum of Care

Meet with clinic’s physician
Evaluation of individualized pain management plan
Review of personal goals and quality of life enhancements, including work activities/requirements and social interactions and relationships
Evaluation of any new testing or reports
Continuation of pharmacological protocol
Office visit every 30 days

If necessary

Referrals for additional testing or evaluation
Adjustment of pain management medication protocol

How Should You Proceed to Get Pain Alleviation?

Please call one of our offices so you can stop hurting and start living!