Diagnosis and Treatment | Training and Qualifications
If you’re experiencing chronic pain, you’re not alone. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), an estimated 50 million adults across the country seek medical treatment every year because of pain that interferes with their daily lives. In fact, there are medical professionals who are specifically trained to diagnose and treat varying levels of pain.
What Qualifies Someone as a Pain Management Doctor?
While most medical professionals, from general practitioners to specialists, will know how to treat certain types of pain, pain management doctors are different. In addition to a medical school education, a pain management doctor typically spends another four years in a residency program focused on anesthesiology, neurology, or rehabilitation and physical medicine. When that’s completed, they get another year of training exclusively in the treatment of pain, leading to certification by the American Board of Pain Medicine.
What Conditions Does a Pain Management Doctor Treat?
Pain management specialists can treat a wide range of medical conditions, including:
- Chronic pain resulting from a traumatic accident, such as a motor vehicle crash, a slip-and-fall, or a workplace injury
- Chronic pain caused by another health condition, such as arthritis, osteoarthritis, or rheumatoid arthritis
- Fibromyalgia or other forms of chronic pain or discomfort
- Pain resulting from stroke, MS, or various types of neuropathy
What Types of Treatment Can You Expect from a Pain Management Doctor?
Your prescribed treatment will depend, to some degree, on the causes, nature, and extent of your pain. If the pain is relatively low-level, you may initially be prescribed pain medications, such as anti-inflammatories, as well as physical therapy. If those approaches don’t effectively remediate your pain, your pain management doctor may recommend injections, such as nerve blocks, or may apply low voltage electrical current to the area of pain with a device known as a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator (TENS).
If TENS or injections don’t bring sufficient relief, a pain management doctor may use radiofrequency ablation (RFA) or visco-supplementation. RFA uses heat or chemicals to block pain signals, whereas visco-supplementation involves the injection of a lubricant into certain joints, with the purpose of minimizing friction and pain.
In cases of substantial chronic pain, a doctor may implant a pain pump that delivers pain medication to the spine when needed. Stem cell therapy has also been used in the treatment of pain.
