Pain Management

Pain is “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage” (IASP : 1979).

A health care delivery facility focusing upon the diagnosis and management of patients with chronic pain. A pain clinic may specialize in specific diagnoses or in pains related to a specific region of the body.
Chronic pain is a disease, a syndrome and not just a symptom. The concept of a pain clinic is based on the conviction to effectively manage difficult pain conditions through well- coordinated efforts of a specialist possessing knowledge and skills to diagnose and treat pain.

Chronic Pain leads to?

Chronic pain can lead to depression, anxiety, marital & interpersonal problems, decreased productivity, unemployment, compromised social roles, isolation, financial burden, dependence, prolonged analgesics usage, decreased self-esteem with behavioural changes adversely affecting the quality of life (QOL) & Activities of daily living (ADL).

Pain Medicine Deals in?

Pain is one of the most common reasons for patients to seek medical attention and one of the most prevalent medical complaints in today’s world.
Pain Medicine deals with the management of difficult chronic and painful diseases like cancer. A majority of complex chronic painful states, unresponsive to conventional treatment are being successfully treated at pain clinics.
A “Pain Clinic” uses services of a specialist such as psychology, physical therapy, anesthesiology, orthopaedics and neurosurgery. These clinics are specialised areas that are now taking up the role of an essential service as they meet the unmet needs of an existing medical facility. The Pain Clinics help by simultaneously treating the physical, emotional, cognitive, behavioural, vocational and social aspect of chronic pain cost effectively.

Advantages of Interventional Pain Procedures

Interventional pain procedures scores over both medicine and surgery, as they do not have side effects like medicines. The interventional pain procedures produce:

Although tremendous scientific & technological advances have been made, despite that the knowledge & techniques are highly underutilised. In the absence of proper education among health care professionals and lack of awareness in the public mind in India, there is a misuse of painkillers resulting in high incidence of complications like gastritis, kidney failure, and bone marrow depression.

Several people are not aware of interventional pain management techniques, which can be helpful for many patients suffering from intractable chronic pain. Pain treatment is tailor- made & no single treatment fits all. It is a silent epidemic, don’t let this happen to someone you love. Untreated pain destroys people’s lives. I have had patients come in who couldn’t work or sleep or play with their children. Good pain management gave them their life back.