Our Approach
Our goal is to improve our patients' quality of life.
We utilize current concepts in physical medicine, rehabilitation and pain medicine to decrease your symptoms, improve your lifestyle and promote optimum health. We feel that we must address the whole person in order to treat the patient. Addressing only the patients' symptoms without treating other underlying problems will not make the patient well. We utilize medications, exercise and emotional support to provide a positive environment and an optimistic outlook for our patients. All treatments are conducted in-office by board-certified professionals.
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Pain is different for everyone.
Pain is defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. Pain is a very personal experience and is different for everyone. One person may feel pain with more intensity than another who may to have a higher ability to cope with pain. Whatever the case, the most important thing is that people who suffer from pain know how to describe it and are willing to play a vital role in helping to manage it.
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Pain can either be acute or chronic. Usually acute pain is defined as pain that lasts for less than 3 months. Chronic pain is defined as an unpleasant feeling that lasts for more than 3 months. This type of pain can be due to degenerative disc disease, osteoarthritis, nerve damage or cancer pain. The chronicity of pain is caused by different chemical reactions that occur in the body and can be modulated through treatment.
Speak up about your pain.
To get help with relieving your pain, it is important that you communicate with your doctor or nurse. Don’t think that you are not being a “good” patient or that you are a weak person when discussing your pain. If you don’t tell, who will? Describe your pain as well as you can. Don’t make light of it, but don’t exaggerate. Remember, research has shown that treating pain promotes the well-being of the whole person. If you have trouble describing your pain, start with these questions:
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What does the pain feel like?
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Is it sharp, dull, throbbing, burning, or tingling?
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Where is the pain located?
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Is it constant, or does it come and go?
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How much pain do you feel on a scale from zero to ten? With zero being no pain, and 10 being the worst possible pain you can imagine.
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Do your pain medicines help? How many hours do they give you relief? What aggravates your pain?
You may want to keep a diary to record the amount of pain you experience each day and what works best to ease your pain. You should also record how pain affects your life in general; changes to your appetite, your sleep, your work and other activities, etc.
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The pain stops here. To make an appointment, give us a call at (410) 571-9000.