30 Sep 2021 When wellness seems out of reach

Posted at 6:10 PMh in Health & Beauty by

By Stefanie Brazile

Everyone seeks a pain-free life, but underlying health conditions or past injuries make that an unreachable goal for many people.

The Centers for Disease Control reports that about 50 million U.S. adults live with pain and that can result in lost work days, anxiety or depression, and a reduced quality of life. It has also contributed to an opioid epidemic.

Editor’s note: Articles should not be considered specific advice, as individual circumstances vary. A medical doctor should be consulted to determine appropriate treatment options.

Fortunately, in response to the massive need, treatment options are increasing. There is a growing number of clinics that specialize in the treatment of pain.

“Pain Treatment Centers of America offers various minimally invasive pain treatment procedures that we have perfected to help patients achieve pain relief,” CEO Bill McCrary said. “Our treatments have been proven effective and are on the cutting edge of science. A few of the most frequent procedures performed are nerve blocks, epidural steroid injections, pain pumps, and spinal cord stimulators.”

Most commonly, patients complain of pain in the lower back, knees, head, hip, and neck. Frequently, the conditions causing the pain are: arthritis, cancer pain, compression fractures, failed back surgery syndrome, fibromyalgia, herniated discs, migraines, muscle and joint pain, neck pain, and spinal stenosis, according to McCrary.

Chronic pain is the leading cause of long-term disability in the country, and the nation annually spends up to $635 billion on chronic pain in terms of medical treatments, disability payments, and lost productivity, according to the U.S. Pain Foundation.

PTCOA treats adults and younger patients. “These patients have the highest rates of injury and accidents as causes of their pain,” McCrary said.

“The needs of people suffering from chronic pain are ever-evolving, and pain management has evolved along with it,” he said. “The biggest misconception is that pain management involves patients taking lots of pills.”

For some patients, medication management may be the best course of action; however, pain management and pain relief are far from one-size-fits-all.

“At PTCOA, we take a comprehensive approach that involves physical therapy, nerve blocks, minimally invasive procedures and also includes medication management,” McCrary said.

He said another misconception is that all pain doctors are the same. “Our physicians are interventional pain management physicians. Unlike other pain management physicians that can only prescribe medications, our physicians perform nerve blocks, spinal cord stimulators, intrathecal pain pump implants, and other minimally invasive pain management techniques.”

Another option that helps patients of all ages is chiropractic care. Most chiropractors have a bachelor’s degree, as well as a doctorate in chiropractic. They take a tremendous amount of anatomy courses and do extensive internships with hands-on training.

“I would say the bread-and-butter of what brings patients to us is pain,” said Dr. Amanda Bledsoe, CEO and chiropractor at Bledsoe Chiropractic. “And 75 percent or more of the pain that gets patients’ attention is in their lower back, often radiating into the hips and pelvis, knees, legs, and feet. The interesting thing is the low back gets their attention, but most people are carrying around a lot more tension and stress in their neck that could be causing shoulder pain, headaches, and numbness in their hands.”

The chiropractor believes that a variety of symptoms are connected to the spine. “Once the body is restored with full nerve flow, there’s so much potential and hope for relief from everything from headaches to earaches, carpal tunnel, plantar fasciitis, less knee pain, and more mobility from head to toe.”

Bledsoe said that many patients at her clinic have received traditional treatments for pain and some are still receiving medications, injections, and/or surgeries.

“We try to meet patients where they are so we don’t push them to discontinue any of their current pain management regimens,” she said. “We do try to help them avoid surgery as much as possible. We have a great working relationship with many other health professionals in our area and love being able to co-manage patients with them. Our goal is to give the patients information so they can make an educated choice for their own body.”