5 Services Offered by a Pain Management Doctor

Nearly 1 in 5 American adults experience chronic pain. Pain can make it hard for you to work, sleep, and take care of yourself. What’s more, it can affect how you have fun and ruin your quality of life.

If pain is a regular part of your life, you may need to consult a pain management doctor. Depending on the cause and type of pain, healthcare providers will work with you to create a pain management plan that improves your wellbeing.

Below are some services offered by a pain management doctor that can help you improve your quality of life.

1. Drug Therapy

Pain medicines can help you manage chronic pain and other types of pain. While over-the-counter medicines can be effective, it’s important to visit pain management doctors for safe drug prescriptions. Some prescription medicines used to treat pain include:

Corticosteroids

They offer relief for inflamed parts of the body by easing redness, swelling, itching, and allergic reactions. Examples are prednisone, methylprednisolone, and prednisolone.

Opioids

Mostly used for acute pain like short-term pain after surgery. Some examples of opioids include fentanyl, codeine, morphine, and oxycodone.

Antidepressants

They can treat pain and emotional conditions by altering levels of neurotransmitters in the brain. They are usually available over-the-counter. 

Anticonvulsants

While they’re often used to treat seizure disorders, some of these medications can treat pain as well. They should be prescribed by your physician. 

NSAIDs

Depending on your pain condition, NSAIDs are prescribed in different doses. They relieve pain and reduce inflammation. 

2. TENS

TENS is also referred to as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. It utilizes electrical stimulation to help reduce pain. During the procedure, AZ pain doctors deliver low-voltage electrical current through electrodes placed on your skin near the source of pain.

The electricity from the electrodes stimulates the nerves in an affected area to block the transmission of pain signals. What’s more, TENs stimulate the production of endorphins, which are your body’s natural painkillers.

TENS is not painful and may be an effective therapy to treat conditions such as osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, diabetic neuropathy, and more.

3. Injections

Pain injections can deliver medication directly to the part of your body that generates pain. This means they may provide pain relief compared to oral medications. Commonly administered injections for pain by pain management doctors are:

• Epidural and cortisone injections: Both contain a corticosteroid, an anesthetic, and a saline solution
• Trigger point injections: They target muscles that contain trigger points and irritate the nerves around them
• Selective nerve root block injections: Target a specific spinal nerve to offer relief
• Facet joint injections: Offer pain relief stemming from a specific facet joint
• Sacroiliac (SI) joint injections: Provides relief for pain that starts from the SI joint—connecting the spine to the pelvis

4. Alternative Therapies

Some doctors for pain management use alternative therapy to offer relief. These treatments for pain are often used in place of conventional medicine. Alternative therapy encompasses a variety of disciplines, including:

Mind-Body Therapies

Your mind and emotions play an important role in how you experience pain. If you are living with chronic pain, stress and depression tend to amplify your perception of pain. Your brain can continue sending out pain signals, even though they aren’t needed.

Mind-body therapies may focus on using the body to relax the mind. This can help reduce discomfort associated with chronic pain. These therapies include meditation, relaxation techniques, yoga, hypnosis, CBT, and more.

Therapeutic Touch and Reiki Healing

This alternative pain management treatment can help activate your self-healing processes, reducing pain. It is administered by a softer touch compared to the deep pressure applied during massages. 

Acupuncture

Acupuncture involves the placing of very thin needles through your skin at specific points on your body. It can help decrease pain by increasing the release of endorphins.

Pain management doctors often use it as an accompanying treatment for many pain-related conditions. These include headache, tennis elbow, menstrual cramps, low back pain, and more.

Chiropractic Treatment and Massage

Chiropractic treatment and massage can provide patients with a multitude of benefits. They can help to relieve pain, accelerate healing and improve your overall health and well-being.

5. Surgery

When standard medicines, therapy, and alternative pain treatments fail to offer adequate pain relief, your Arizona pain management doctor may recommend surgery. It’s often used as a last resort. Mostly it involves the placement of surgical implants to control pain.

Here are the types of surgical implants pain management doctors use:

Intrathecal Drug Delivery

Also known as spinal drug delivery systems or infusion pain pumps. It involves making pockets under your skin that are big enough to hold a medicine pump and the insertion of a catheter.

The catheter helps transports pain medicine like morphine from the pump to the intrathecal space around the spinal cord. This can offer pain relief.

Spinal Cord Stimulation Implants

In this procedure, a device that delivers low-level electrical signals which block pain signals is surgically implanted in your body. You will use a remote control to turn the current on and off or to adjust the intensity of the signals.

How to Choose a Pain Management Doctor

Choosing an Arizona pain management doctor is one of the most important decisions you can make. To help guide you, the following are a few tips designed to get you to the right doctors for pain management.

Ask Your Primary Care Physician for a Referral

When looking for a pain management doctor, a good starting point is consulting your physician. They can recommend a qualified colleague they work closely with who specializes in dealing with pain conditions.

Research

You can also look for reliable information about pain management doctors online. There are a lot of online directories that allow you to search both by location and specialty.

Also, research the pain doctor’s credentials. This will help you find out if they have the necessary training, skills, and experience to provide pain treatment.

Get Help from Pain Support Groups

Pain support forums are a great way to get information about pain management doctors. These groups have people who have been through what you are going through now and can offer valid recommendations.

Know What Your Insurance Covers

Your insurance coverage is a practical matter when seeking health services. To avoid paying out-of-pocket for your care, select a pain management doctor who participates in your plan.

Consult with Top-Rated Pain Management Doctors in Arizona

Looking for qualified treatments for pain? Look no further than AZ Pain Doctors. Our certified pain management doctor will first determine a diagnosis for your pain before prescribing personalized treatments.

Schedule an appointment today for a consultation.