For Your Health: Advances In Treatments For Chronic Pain

I remember many years ago I was asked to give a lecture on current advances in the treatment of chronic pain. My presentation covered topics related to medication and interventional pain management, the most common of which is the epidural steroid injection that most people are familiar with.

The last five minutes were devoted to medical marijuana, which will allow its use to be legalized in the state of Missouri. At the end of my presentation, most of the questions were about the use of marijuana, not other, more common treatments. I found this ironic because in the past this discussion would never have arisen due to marijuana's legal status and lower profile in the general public.

Nowadays, many patients are faced with chronic pain that cannot be relieved by traditional pain management methods and are looking for other ways to relieve their pain. Advanced Pain Management uses a variety of chronic pain treatments to help patients improve their quality of life. In addition to medication, rehabilitation therapy, interventional therapy, behavioral health approaches, and complementary and integrative health are also included.

The current pain statistics in the US are staggering. According to recent national data, 178 million Americans (or 41 percent of adults) suffer from at least one chronic pain condition. In addition, 20 percent of Americans suffer from chronic pain, which is usually defined as pain that lasts three months or more. In addition, 8 percent report severe and severe chronic pain with at least one major activity limitation, such as working outside the home, attending school, or doing household chores.

This increase in pain comes at a time when Americans have more access to pain medications and procedures than ever before. Some researchers attribute this paradox to the overtreatment of chronic pain, as it is mistakenly perceived as a widespread acute pain that can be addressed with a unimodal (one injection cures all) approach, that is, with drugs and/or injections. This approach views chronic pain as a multifaceted disease involving nutritional, psychosocial, biochemical, neurological, and physical components that requires an integrated approach. The field of integrative medicine (IM) may be a viable alternative in the future.

There are many misconceptions about the definition of integrative medicine. Simply put, integrative medicine combines traditional medical concepts with other, less traditional, non-Western therapies; such as acupuncture, herbal medicine, movement therapy and energy techniques. Integrative medicine covers the entire range of medical interventions from prevention to treatment, rehabilitation and recovery. Basic principles include nutrition, stress management, exercise and sleep. It has gained popularity and recognition, and doctors can now pursue advanced fellowship training at respected institutions including the University of Arizona, the University of Michigan, Ohio State University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. a little bit

The effectiveness of MI strategies for pain control has been demonstrated in the literature. Lack of insurance coverage for many MI treatments remains a challenge for many patients and their practitioners. Now that the health care system is beginning to examine the evidence, the medical literature is expanding with research on the use of integrative medicine to treat chronic pain. Much of this literature supports the use of an integrative approach to pain, often with the same efficacy and fewer side effects as our current model.

John Lucio, MD, is a board-certified pain management specialist at SSM Health Spine and Pain Center, 2505 Mission Drive, Suite 200. Lucio's medical interests include: chronic pain management, diabetic peripheral neuropathy, epidural steroid injections, pain pump implantation, joint injections, nerve injections, regenerative medicine, spinal cord stimulators and stem cell injections. Make an appointment with a doctor. Lucio, please call 573-681-3759.

Advanced LLC A New Look at Chronic Pain