Chronic Pain Management

Chronic Pain Management

From over-the-counter and prescription drugs to mind-body techniques to acupuncture, chronic pain can be treated in many ways. However, no single method can guarantee you total pain relief. Rather, a combination of options may help you get rid of the pain.

Mild pain may be relieved by over-the-counter medications like acetaminophen or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Although both relieve pain caused by muscle aches and stiffness, only NSAIDs can reduce inflammation. Lotions or creams can also be applied to the skin in order to relieve pain from sore muscles and arthritis.

If over-the-counter drugs fail to bring relief, your doctor may prescribe stronger medications like muscle relaxants, anti-anxiety drugs, antidepressants, prescription NSAIDs, or a short course of stronger painkillers or steroid injections.

Patient-controlled analgesia, in which the patient is able to self-administer a pre-measured dose of pain medicine, is another method often used in hospitals. In the nerve blocking method, a drug is injected around the appropriate nerve to prevent the pain message from reaching the brain. Trigger point injection is a method to treat painful areas of muscle that contain trigger points, or knots of muscle that form when muscles do not relax.

When standard medicines and physical therapy are unsuccessful, surgical implants may be required. In intrathecal drug delivery, the surgeon makes a pocket under the skin that can hold a medicine pump. A catheter, inserted by the surgeon, carries pain medicine from the pump to the intrathecal space around the spinal cord. In spinal cord stimulation, low-level electrical signals are transmitted to the spinal cord or to specific nerves, blocking the passage of pain signals. TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) therapy uses electrical stimulation to reduce pain. Psychological treatment uses safe, non-drug methods that treat your pain directly by reducing high levels of physiological stress.

In recent times, mind-body therapies, acupuncture, and some nutritional supplements have become popular. Although no concrete evidence is available, other alternative therapies such as massage, chiropractic therapies, therapeutic touch, certain herbal therapies, and dietary approaches may diminish pain in some people.