Living with chronic pain makes everything more difficult; even things you enjoy doing become harder. Treatment with opioids has the potential to create more problems than it solves.
The providers at all three locations of Apex Medical Center specialize in pain management, so we understand the consequences of both chronic pain and treatment with opioids. We seek to help each of our patients find the treatment plan that helps them live their lives as comfortably as possible.
Sometimes it’s obvious why you have pain. Maybe you hurt your back years ago, and it just never got all the way better. Perhaps you’ve got osteoarthritis, or some other condition, and it makes you hurt.
Understanding your condition is the first step in finding a treatment plan that works for you, so you can expect our staff to discuss your medical history and our providers to do a thorough exam. In some cases, getting a chronic condition like diabetes or an autoimmune disorder under control results in easing your chronic pain.
Once we understand why you have pain, we have a clearer idea of what treatment options are most likely to help you. Here are a few that we recommend frequently:
If your pain is related to nerve issues, radiofrequency ablation (RFA) could be a solution. We use radio waves to heat nerve tissue, impairing that nerve from sending pain signals to your brain. This option is often helpful for people who have arthritis, chronic neck or back pain, or similar conditions.
Physical therapists are experts in precisely targeting biomechanical problems. For example, you may have back pain due to a weakness in your hips, or perhaps you have knee pain due to a problem with your ankle.
For many people who have chronic pain, exploring the connection between the mind and body can help. Mind-body therapy includes several modalities, such as Tai chi, acupuncture, meditation, and others. The goal isn’t necessarily to make the pain go away, but to help you learn how to mentally step away from it.
Opioids are not the only drugs that can be used to treat pain. Corticosteroid injections, Botox, and many other pharmaceutical treatments can be an important part of treating chronic pain.
The treatment options we’ve listed here are only a few of the many available. Dietary changes, massage therapy, psychological treatments, and many others can be part of a successful chronic pain treatment plan.
In most cases, it takes a multi-faceted approach to find what works best for you. You may discover that some treatments don’t work for you at all, and some help with one aspect of your pain. The idea is to find what works well and fits into your life best.
If you’re living with chronic pain and you don’t want to or cannot use opioids to treat it, schedule an appointment at the most convenient location of Apex Medical Center.
We’re happy to help you find the pain relief treatments that work for you.
