Pain Management Physicians Role in Managing Pain

If you have pain from illness or injury, pain management doctors are your best treatment option due to their advanced training. After a general residency,  pain management dr in Dallas complete a one-year pain management fellowship and are board-certified in sports injuries or cancer pain. Back, knee, head, hip, and neck pain are the most common complaints to pain management doctors. Pain management physicians treat arthritis, fibromyalgia, migraines, sciatica, and more. 

What's Pain? 

Pain is unpleasant. However, pain is a nervous system response that mostly protects the body. As an example, it hurts so much that you pull your hand away from a hot stove so it doesn't get burned. To heal an injured ankle, rest it due to musculoskeletal pain. Pain can result from surgery or metabolic issues like diabetes. Nerve (neuropathic) damage can cause intermittent pain. Neuropathic pain has no known benefit or protective role. It may be caused by nerve damage or misreading brain-nerve signals. Example of this pain type: 

• Shingles neuropathy

• Diabetic peripheral neuropathy

• Carpal tunnel syndrome

Pain isn't always obvious, like a hand cut or burn. Low back pain can be brought on by many things. It could be musculoskeletal and be caused by how you stand at work. Herniated discs, spinal stenosis, and sciatica can cause lower back pain. Arthritis or degenerative disc disease may cause the pain.  Other causes of pain include:

• Headaches

• Face pain

• Post-herpetic pain

• Achilles tendinopathy

• Piriformis syndrome

• Plantar fasciitis

• Cancer

Pain doctors in your area and staff believe in a multidisciplinary approach to pain treatment to achieve the highest level of functionality in a caring and supportive environment and educate patients and their families about their conditions and treatments.

What Do Pain Management Doctors Do? 

Pain management experts diagnose and treat painful medical conditions nonsurgically. Pain management dr in Dallas are called “interventional pain doctors” because they specialize in orthopedic and musculoskeletal pain interventions. Pain dr near me often perform epidural steroid injections for sciatica, spinal cord stimulation for complex regional pain syndrome, radiofrequency ablation for neck and back pain, and cortisone injections for joint pain. Pain management in Dallas coordinates a comprehensive treatment plan that includes physical therapy, psychological therapy, rehabilitation, and surgery when needed. 

What Types of Pain Interventional Pain Doctors?

Pain management physicians treat sports injuries, spinal conditions, arthritis, muscle, nerve, and soft tissue pathologies, and migraines. Chronic pain specialists in Dallas treat the following and more:

• Facet of degenerative disc disease Joint arthritis slipped herniated spinal discs 

• Spinal cord inflammation, pinched nerves, sciatica, cervical, and lumbosacral radiculitis

• Neck and low back pain due to spinal stenosis injury and muscle pain 

• Arthritis and joint pain tendon and ligament issues 

• Sport injuries 

• Pain after surgery

• RSD/complex regional pain syndrome

• Headaches, migraines 

• Peripheral neuropathy

What Medicines Do Doctors of Pain Management Prescribe?

The following medications are prescribed by pain management physicians:

• NSAIDs, oral corticosteroids 

• Gabapentin and duloxetine stabilize nerves. 

• Opioids can help manage acute or immediate postsurgical pain, but high-quality research has yet to determine their long-term benefits. However, long-term opioid use increases the risk of motor vehicle accidents, fatal and nonfatal overdoses, immune system suppression, and hormone changes, including testosterone. Pain management specialists in Dallas prescribe opioids cautiously. They rarely prescribe long-acting opioids, only short-course short-acting opioids, and do not refill lost, stolen, or destroyed prescriptions. 

• Pain management specialists often use spinal procedures to relieve pain, such as for herniated discs, pinched nerves, or facet joints. 

• Joint, tendon, and ligament injections 

• Targeted nerve blocks and muscle injections 

Some injected medications are: 

• Cortisone (anti-inflammatory) 

• Local anesthetics like lidocaine and regenerative therapies like PRP synthetic lubrication 

• The “multimodal” approach to pain relief works best for many conditions. Pain management doctors in Dallas may use rehabilitation and physical therapy to relieve pain, depending on the condition. 

• Treatment options encompass non-opioid medication and interventional pain management techniques.

Furthermore, there is a rapid increase in both the quantity and intricacy of pain management options. Every year, new and complex drugs, techniques, and technologies for pain treatment are developed, and pain management specialists in Dallas are trained to use them safely and effectively to help patients. 

How Do I Find a Good Pain Doctor?

The most important thing is to find a pain management physician you can trust and who has the training and experience to treat your pain. Pain specialists need more training because a lot of conditions that cause chronic pain need complicated treatment plans and unique techniques for intervening. The American Boards of Anesthesiology, Psychiatry, Neurology, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation offer subspecialty board certification in pain management to pain physicians in Dallas who are board-certified in their primary specialty and have completed an accredited fellowship.

Expectations for the First Visit

Regular family doctors may refer patients to back pain specialists in Dallas. Following are the questions that your specialist may ask you:

• Where is the pain?

• When did pain begin? 

• Are there other symptoms?

• Describe the sensation, such as sharp, dull, achy, burning, tingling, or other words.

• Certain activities worsen pain? 

• Does the pain worsen or improve daily? 

• What medications are they taking? 

• Have they tried other therapies? Which ones? 

A pain management physician may conduct a thorough examination of a patient, engage in a discussion regarding their medical background and discomfort, and prescribe further diagnostic tests. Medical practitioners typically request diagnostic testing prior to prescribing opioids and other therapeutic interventions. Scans can determine if a person is at risk for medication abuse and how often they should be monitored. Pain may be relieved with proper management.

Summary