What is Pain?

The Definition of Pain

"An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage."

The International Association for the Study of Pain

 

  • Neck and Back Pain
  • Extremity Pain (arms, legs, hands, feet)
  • Headache and facial pain
  • Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD)
  • Causalgia
  • Zoster Pain (Shingles)
  • Phantom Limb Pain
  • Pelvic Pain
  • Cancer Pain
  • Myofascial Pain
  • Unspecified Pain

 

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Chronic Pain

Chronic pain may be characterized as any painful condition that is persistent. It is often resistant to conventional therapies and usually causes the sufferer to limit his/her work, social life, and family activities.

Acute Pain

Acute pain is typically caused by a specific painful event and is self-limited. Acute pain may become chronic pain.

Pain Treatment

Fortunately there are effective treatments for both chronic and acute pain. To achieve effective pain control most patients require a multi-faceted approach to their painful condition. This usually involves combining medical management (pain relievers and related medications), physical modalities (physical therapy and surface EMG), cognitive therapies (such as bio-feedback), and interventional techniques (such as epidural steroids).

Goals of Treatment

Although no form of pain treatment can guarantee complete relief, our primary goal is to achieve the maximum amount of pain relief possible. we hope to allow patients suffering from pain to return a more normal life, to enable them to participate in daily activities with less discomfort, and to improve their psychological well being. In addition, we hope to prevent the possible progression of acute pain to chronic pain.