Did you know chronic pain affects more than 20 percent of adults in the United States? Pain is one of the leading causes of disability and profoundly affects your quality of life.

But you don't have to suffer silently, and seeing a specialist at a center for pain management is key to starting your journey to wellness. A pain management specialist not only looks at your pain but at the factors that contribute to it.

Keep reading this guide to learn about nine reasons you should visit a center for pain management today!

1. Find the Root Cause

It's essential to find the root cause of your pain, especially if you've been suffering for a long time. If you've seen your primary care physician before but still are experiencing pain that interferes with your life, then it's time to see a pain management physician.

The goal of pain management is to find the cause of what's causing your pain. This is a collaborative effort between your primary care doctor and other specialists you've seen. A pain management specialist will ask you detailed questions about your symptoms and order diagnostic testing.

2. Manage Your Arthritis Pain

When you have chronic arthritis pain, it can disrupt every aspect of your daily life. Work, daily tasks, and even your social life can suffer. Pain management clinics can help anyone with chronic pain but can be especially useful for arthritis pain management.

Immobility can make your joint tissues more rigid and less flexible. Movement helps reduce the pain of arthritis, and the main goal is to reduce your pain enough so that you can begin to exercise regularly.

3. Alternative Pain Management Therapies

Pain management is so much more than just taking medications every day. Integrated pain management incorporates treatments that do not include yoga, acupuncture, mindfulness, exercise, and cognitive behavioral therapy.

Integrated pain management is especially effective for chronic low back pain, osteoarthritis, headaches, fibromyalgia, and post-surgical pain.

4. Aware of the Latest Research

Pain management doctors are up-to-date on all the latest research for effective pain management therapies. So when you go to a center for pain management, you'll benefit from treatments you may not have heard of yet.

For example, platelet-rich plasma injections (PRP) are a treatment that is becoming more and more popular. PRP involves receiving injections with plasma cells from your own blood. Plasma contains red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Platelets are cells that make your blood clot and also play a huge role in healing.

5. You Receive Personalized Care

A pain management doctor provides you a customized treatment plan. No two people are the same, and the most effective pain management plan needs to be personalized. This is why it is essential to see a specialist.

A pain specialist will carefully evaluate other factors contributing to your pain like excessive weight, stress, depression, medical conditions, and poor posture. A plan for medication, other interventional therapies, and physical therapy are usually on the list as well as:

• Referrals to other specialists as needed
• Injections with steroids or nerve blocks
• Ongoing monitoring and follow up

6. Your Treatment Goals Are Most Important

Another great thing about pain management is that you guide the direction your treatment goes. Treatment goals vary from person to person, and your pain management doctor will talk to you about what you want to achieve.

Most of the time, looking deeper into the cause of your chronic pain can help to prevent future problems. In addition to medications, many people need to make significant lifestyle changes. Typically these changes start with:

• Diet changes
• Exercising daily
• Finding effective ways to manage your stress levels
• Getting enough sleep
• Quit smoking
• Quit drinking
• Reframe your mind to focus on the positive

Many times simple lifestyle changes like reducing stress and getting more sleep can make the most difference. And a pain management specialist has the expertise to help you manage these changes in the best way possible.

7. Extra Education and Training

Pain management doctors receive extra training in pain management after graduating from medical school. Typically a residency program and three additional years of anesthesiology, neurology, and psychiatry are included.

Pain management physicians are also board-certified and have to take special education and training courses to stay updated on the latest treatments throughout their careers.

8. Treat All Types of Pain

A pain management specialist can treat all different types of pain, including acute and chronic. Acute pain is severe, sharp, and lasts less than six months. Chronic pain typically lasts for at least six months or longer. Chronic pain can be mild to severe and is often the most difficult to manage.

Common conditions pain management specialists treat include:

• Joint pain
• Sciatica
• Degenerative disc disease
• Whiplash
• Back injuries
• Compressed discs or fractures

Many people also seek the care of a pain management specialist after suffering injuries from a car or high-impact accident.

9. An Accurate Diagnosis

The key to effective pain management is getting an accurate diagnosis. Even if you have had diagnostic testing in the past, you'll likely need additional testing ordered.

Pain management doctors typically order x-rays, CT scans, and MRI tests to confirm the causes of your neck or back pain. If you have other symptoms, you may need bone scans or nerve conduction studies.

Pain management physicians also review your medical history and will give you a thorough physical exam. Questions they will ask you include:

• How would you rate your pain on a 0 to 10 scale
• When did the pain start
• Is the pain constant
• Does anything help to relieve that pain
• What medications have you tried

You'll also be asked what prescription medications you currently take as well as any herbal supplements. Getting an idea of what works to help your pain and what doesn't helps form an accurate diagnosis and gives you the treatment you need.

Center for Pain Management

When you suffer from ongoing pain, it changes your life. But you aren't alone. A professional center for pain management like Colorado Pain Experts can help.

We offer comprehensive pain management, education, and treatment in the safest way possible. We provide pain injections, medication management, nerve blocks, and much more.

So make sure you contact us today for a pain-free tomorrow!

Did you know that over 20% of adults suffered from chronic pain in 2019? It's even more common for elderly adults to be at risk for lingering aches and pain. Ultimately, this can lead to poor quality of life and impact work and hobbies.

Certain Colorado pain management clinics are on the leading edge of medicine for combating chronic pain. There are many different non-surgical techniques out there. It's important you have skilled clinicians on your side who've found helpful pain management treatments.

What Is Chronic Pain?

The big difference between chronic and acute pain is the length of time. Usually, with acute pain, you have immediate pain from an obvious injury. On the contrary, chronic pain lingers for weeks, months, or years; it can also sometimes be difficult to identify what has caused this pain.

Physicians diagnosis chronic pain after patients have dealt with it for three to six months. In some cases, medical practitioners can't identify the cause of the pain.

The easiest example of chronic pain is arthritis.

Additionally, chronic pain is difficult to manage because of how it affects the nervous system. Over time, a person's nerves are altered to become more sensitive to the pain - this makes it more difficult to manage.

Back Pain

Back pain is one of the most common causes of chronic pain. Northern Colorado pain management clinics specialize in providing ointments, over-the-counter medication, and cortisone injections for back pain.

Other injections that are commonly used in the back are nerve blocks and epidural steroid injections. This is useful when a physician can locate where exactly the pain is, however, it is not a long-term solution.

Physical therapy helps patients by giving them strengthening and mobility exercises. This is usually used in conjunction with non-surgical approaches. Your pain will be lessened and you'll address weakened or stiff areas that contribute to the chronic pain.

Holistic approaches are becoming more popular such as electrical nerve stimulation and acupuncture. Sometimes, non-surgical approaches fail. There are, however, minimally invasive procedures to help manage chronic pain.

In fact, spinal cord stimulation is helpful in relieving back pain when other methods have failed, and it is also a treatment offered in Colorado pain management clinics.

This is done by placing electrodes onto the vertebrae and spinal cord; the generator is then positioned beneath the skin. Patients are able to trigger the electrical stimulation through a small, handheld remote when they feel pain.

Headaches and Migraines

Did you factor in daily headaches as chronic pain? It often gets overlooked since it often has no definitive cause.

Sometimes, poor posture and prior neck injuries contribute to headaches or migraines. What happens when it is impeding your daily life?

Some people find success in medication management through anti-seizure or beta-blocker medication. Others fail multiple treatments before finding one that works the best.

Sometimes, over-use medication can actually lead to more headaches. That's probably not what you wanted to hear as someone who suffers from chronic pain.

What are other options are out there?

Luckily, the doors have opened in recent years to better address migraines. Botox injections are becoming popular for those who suffer from headaches more than 15 days a month. You can repeat this procedure every three months.

Muscle relaxants and biofeedback tools (such as measuring muscle tension) can also manage chronic headaches and migraines.

Muscle Pain

You've probably dealt with sore muscles at least once or twice in your life. A couple of days of soreness following an intense workout is one thing - dealing with daily, debilitating pain is a whole other issue.

Athletes have shed light on common strategies to address lingering pain. Do you remember watching the Olympics and wondering what the red, circular splotches on their shoulders and back were?

One way to address a muscle injury is through a treatment called cupping therapy. The therapist or clinician uses specialized cups that suction onto your skin. It is designed to improve blood flow and healing to a specific area.

Other treatments in a Colorado pain management clinic include acupuncture, physical therapy, and platelet-rich plasma therapy. If you have significant muscle pain, spasms, or immobility, then you should look into a clinic to manage your muscle pain.

Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy

Medicine is always looking towards cutting-edge research. Platelet-rich plasma therapy is a useful treatment to help soft tissue injuries. It is commonly injected in aching joints like your shoulder or knee.

Research is still studying how platelet-rich plasma therapy specifically works. It's thought that using your own platelets contributes to the healing process. Additionally, the recovery time is very minimal since you're using your body's healing power.

Radiofrequency Ablation

Radiofrequency ablation might be a procedure you've never heard of before. This treatment addresses arthritis by using a probe to directly send electrical currents into the problem area.

This is a minimally invasive procedure with the ultimate goal to heat affected nerves and block pain signals. If you don't want intensive surgery and other treatments have failed - this could be an option for you.

Patients report relief of symptoms from six months to a year; often, this is a lot longer than nerve blocks.

Colorado Pain Management

Colorado pain management treatments are available to a widespread patient clientele. Some of the best pain management doctors in Colorado specialize in facilities geared to treat a variety of cases.

It is important that you feel you are in capable and skilled hands when visiting a pain management clinic. Chronic pain is debilitating and suffering through your day is tiring.

Don't wait any longer.

Check out this form from a trusted Colorado pain management clinic to take the next step in changing your life for the better. And most importantly - pain-free.