How Are Pain-Management Treatments Determined?

One in five American adults lives with chronic pain, to say nothing of the number of people who are dealing with acute pain. Whether your pain is chronic or acute, you’re tired of the discomfort ruling your life, and you want relief.

When it comes to pain-management treatments, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but there are many solutions. At Comprehensive Pain Management, Drs. Do Chan and Boris Shwartzman believe that customizing pain-management treatments to the needs and goals of our patients is paramount.

Here, we take a look at how we go about determining which pain-management treatment is right for you.

A thorough evaluation

When determining an appropriate pain-management treatment plan, our first step is to perform a thorough evaluation.

During this evaluation, we first review your symptoms and then turn to the most advanced diagnostic tools available to determine the cause of your pain.

These tools may include:

Laboratory tests
Advanced imaging (X-rays, MRIs, CT scans)
Nerve conduction studies
Neurological assessments
Musculoskeletal evaluations

When we have a clearer idea of what’s behind your discomfort, we review your current medical health, as well as your goals. These components are critical to a successful pain-management program, as we want to be sure that we take into account any existing health concerns as well as certain lifestyle considerations.

Addressing your pain

While our practice is devoted to pain management, we prefer to remedy the source of your pain wherever possible.

For example, if your pain stems from a problem along your spine, we offer several minimally invasive procedures that provide long-lasting results for back and neck issues, such as:

The mild® procedure — minimally invasive lumbar decompression
Disc-FX® — for herniated discs
Kyphoplasty — for compression fractures in your spine
Lumbar microendoscopic discectomy — for damaged discs

If your chronic pain stems from an issue such as degenerative disc disease or arthritis, then we can turn to several effective pain-management therapies, including:

Please note that when it comes to opioid-based painkillers, we work within the guidelines of the Department of Health.

While we offer a wide range of pain-management treatments, we also feel that certain lifestyle changes can be equally as effective for managing pain. For example, if you’re carrying extra weight, embarking on a weight-loss program is a great way to combat many types of pain.

As well, if you have a condition like arthritis, stretching and exercise are key components to your pain-management plan.

In other words, our approach to your pain management is comprehensive, as we want to help you find meaningful and sustainable pain relief.

The best way to find out how we would treat your pain is to contact one of our offices — in Attleboro or Franklin, Massachusetts, or South Kingstown or Warwick, Rhode Island — to set up an appointment.