Overview of Pain and Pain Management
Pain is a widespread affliction in the population of the United States. A result most often of disease, injury, or surgery, physical pain ranges in severity from the short-term acute pain associated with bumped knees, scraped elbows, and minor burns to deep, chronic pain resulting from nerve damage or unspecified causes. In a National Health Survey in 2008 the Centers for Disease Control questioned respondents about pain they had suffered in the three months prior to the survey, inquiring about pain from migraines or severe headaches, neck pain, lower back pain, and pain in the face or jaw. Respondents were asked if their pain had lasted for more than a day. The results showed that in people 18 years of age and older, nearly 225 million had suffered pain in one of these categories at some time during those three months prior to the survey. Pain is a widespread and in many cases easily treated medical issue—although, for the 30 to 50 million people suffering with chronic pain, the struggle with pain and effective pain management is ongoing.
Acute pain typically resolves itself in time, or with the help of analgesic medications during the healing process. Chronic pain, on the other hand, involves a complex combination of elements deriving from the biologic/physical, psychological/emotional, and spiritual components of the person suffering with pain. We at Patients Medical are trained to approach pain and the management of pain with this holistic view of the person, and utilize an integrative range of therapies that draw from both modern and ancient healing arts.
A conservative definition of chronic pain is that which persists longer than three months' duration. Disease, injury, and surgery are the main medical causes for the onset of chronic pain. Common broad categories of chronic pain include back pain, pain resulting from cancer or arthritis, and pain from damage to nerves sustained through injury or in surgery. All involve the transmission of pain signals via the nervous system, although not all signals are easily traced to definitive loci or source events generating the pain.
Chronic pain that results from poor or improper healing may be alleviated by various modalities of treatment that assist the healing process. Physical therapy, massage therapy, osteopathic manipulative therapy, craniosacral therapy, acupuncture and other treatment modalities may address imbalances in the musculature or energy flows within the body to ease chronic pain. Chronic pain that eludes categorization and a definitive cause may require techniques that help the sufferer to better manage their outlook and relationship to difficult-to-treat pain, thereby raising their pain threshold and managing the condition better.
The practitioners at the holistic health care center at Patients Medical are trained in mind-body-spirit therapies for pain management. Not all chronic pain can be definitively identified and eliminated, but a broad range of treatments and therapies that draw from modern, evidence-based medicine, novel approaches, as well as ancient holistic medical paradigms is available for the management of pain. The staff at Patients Medical is ready to assist you in finding the underlying causes, triggers, and antecedents of your pain, and to help you as a whole person establish the best management regimen to address your pain.
Begin Your Journey to Wellness with Patients Medical
The effects of chronic pain can range from simple annoyance to debilitating and life-changing. Regardless of where you might find yourself on this spectrum of pain, the practitioners at Patients Medical offer a broad range of pain management therapies derived from modern and ancient traditions in the healing arts. Our integrative approach tackles your pain problem holistically, addressing the mind-body-spirit components of pain to help you manage your pain and live a full, satisfying life.
Begin Your Healing with Patients Medical
Citations and Further Reading:
Pleis, J., et al. 2009. Summary health statistics for U.S. adults: National Health Interview Survey, 2008. Provisional report. Vital Health Stat.,10 (242). URL (PDF): http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_242.pdf (accessed 04/09/2010).
USDHHS. CDC. NCHS. 2006. Health, United States, 2006. With chartbook on trends in the health of Americans. URL (PDF) http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus06.pdf (accessed 04/03/2010).
Date of Publication: 09/05/2005
Article Last Updated: 08/03/2012