What is chronic pain?
Chronic pain lasts for months and often years, persisting far beyond its useful life span. You need pain to warn you of tissue damage. Without the unpleasant sensation of pain, injuries and diseases might go unattended, leading to complications and potentially costing you your life.
Pain makes you act fast to protect yourself. Chronic pain doesn’t serve this essential purpose. In fact, it’s likely making your health worse — chronic pain puts excessive strain on other parts of your body, prevents you from staying active, and often causes severe mental distress.
What causes chronic pain?
Numerous problems can lead to the development of a chronic pain condition. Sometimes congenital musculoskeletal conditions like scoliosis (an unnatural curvature of the spine) cause chronic pain. Persistent pain is also a feature of diseases like cancer. Surgery can sometimes lead to chronic pain, especially if there’s a buildup of scar tissue at the surgery site. Accidents and injuries that cause musculoskeletal damage can become chronic pain problems if you don’t receive the right care and physical therapy.
There are also many conditions for which chronic pain is the main symptom, such as:
- Arthritis
- Fibromyalgia
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Cervical radiculopathy
- Myofascial pain syndrome
- Sciatica
- Whiplash injuries
- Spinal stenosis
- Degenerative disc disease
- Trigeminal neuralgia
- Migraines
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) Some of these conditions and other chronic pain problems develop because of a problem with the nerves transmitting pain signals to your brain. This type of pain is neuropathic, meaning it’s coming from the nerves themselves and isn’t a sign that you have damaged tissues.
How is chronic pain treated?
Dr. Pohlman takes a comprehensive approach to treating chronic pain, aiming to restore and maximize both your physical function and quality of life. He creates a personalized treatment program that focuses on the more conservative, nonsurgical approaches to begin with.
Your treatment program could include:
- Physical therapy
- Medication
- Stem cell therapy
- Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy
- Epidural injections
- Nerve blocks
- Joint injections
In addition to these treatments, it’s important to take other steps to improve your health. Losing weight, finding ways to reduce your stress levels, and eating a healthy, balanced diet can all help reduce your pain and make a significant difference to your ability to manage it. Most people find that the right combination of these treatments is effective. However, if you aren’t improving, Dr. Pohlman also provides medical marijuana and advanced, minimally invasive treatments such as radiofrequency ablation, spinal cord stimulation, and the Superion™ Indirect Decompression System.
Find out more about the most effective current methods of reducing chronic pain by calling Pohlman Pain Associates today or booking an appointment online.
