Pennsylvania Spine and Headache Center (1)

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Managing Pain Requires Efforts but Best
Techniques Alleviate It
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Pain is a sensation which is quite uncomfortable
and unpleasant is caused when a person undergoes
an injury to the tissues of the body thereby
producing emotional and physical reactions.
People suffering from pain alone can describe the
actual discomfort they go through. According to
some studies conducted in this field, pain is a
reaction of the body that presumably helps in
protecting bodies from any injuries or harm that
can cause low performance. This sensation is
actually a predictor, a protector or in simple
words, just a hassle.
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Concepts of pain At certain points of time, our
bodies experience the sensation of pain to a
lesser or greater degree. Medical attention is
required by the individuals suffering from this
situation depending on the intensity. Some people
also see pain as a stimulus rather than a hassle.
The response intensity is subjective to a
considerable extent. This means that only the
person suffering from pain can define the
severity of this disconcerting situation rather
than by other people. Medical attention is also
sought only when the situation gets out of
control. The perception of the sufferers also
varies widely which can be due to several other
reasons. Some of the reasons are pattern of
sleep, mood, activity or hunger.
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Managing pain
Management of pain can be simple or complex and
it can also depend on the causes behind this
sensation. For example, pain that occurs due to
irritation in nerve root due to herniated disc is
comparatively less complex even when pain is
shooting down the leg. For alleviation of this
condition, epidural steroid injections can be
used besides physical therapy. At times, pain
does not go away even after using this injection.
Thus, a great variety of techniques and skills
may be required for managing pain.
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Major techniques used in pain management
Some of the major techniques that have been used
for managing pain are medication management,
interventional procedures, chiropractic therapy
or physical therapy, support and psychological
counseling, alternative therapies and
acupuncture, etc. These techniques are skills are
important to understand as pain can cause a lot
of havoc in a persons life.
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History of pain
Pain management is dependent on its history, its
duration, its intensity, relieving and
aggravating conditions, structures that causes
pain. For structuring causes of pain, there must
be a nerve supply which is susceptible to damage
or injury and the stimulation of the same may
cause excruciating pain. Behind interventional
procedures for pain management can only be used
for bodys specific structures with sensation
nerves generating pain. Management of pain has a
major role to play when problem source needs to
be identified so as optimal treatment can be
isolated. There are various means and techniques
of managing pain. One of the methods which is a
X-ray guided method is fluoroscopy. This method
is usually used for assisting doctors in
injection location so that proper medication
reaches at the specific spot. Injection is also
guided by using ultrasound and identifying
structures. This way management of pain becomes
easier.
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Is Modern Life-Style a Culprit Behind Many Types
of Pain?
Pain is the side-effect of a defective modern
life-style. The sedentary life-style of the
modern man has not only caused many diseases that
were rare and few in the past but also have made
people a lot more prone to various kinds of pains
and aches in the body. Be it the workplace or the
house, we are becoming more and more sedentary
than our ancestors, who used to live an active
outdoor life. Pain is the result of an unnatural,
unhealthy life-style. In fact, it is the symptom
or an indicator of a wrong way of living. In
order to manage or alleviate pain from our bodies
and minds, it is important to take a holistic
approach and make fundamental and substantial
changes in the way we are living our lives in
these modern times.
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Reasons behind pain
For a person who works for hours on a computer,
the only exercise is the one his fingers get
while typing on the keyboard or moving the mouse!
The inactive and desk-bound working environment
in the office makes the body inactive and the
muscles and joints stiff and inflexible. This
causes lower-back problems which can be extremely
painful if not handled properly. This sedentary
modern life-style takes its toll on the body and
makes it prone to many kinds of unnatural states,
that it is not designed to be in, for such
prolonged periods of time. No wonder peoples
bodies have become storehouses of abnormalities
and painful conditions.
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Pain seen across all age groups
The increasing tendency in kids, youngsters as
well as adult people to stay glued to the
television sets or computers at home instead of
enjoying the fresh air and life-giving activities
outdoors is causing people become increasingly
vulnerable to obesity, high blood-pressure,
heart-disease, etc. Increasing use of vehicles,
very tight and uncomfortable clothing in the name
of fashion, wrong eating and drinking habits,
etc. all lead to an unhealthy state and result in
pain. For instance, an obese person is prone to
pain of the leg-joints and lower-back as the
weight of the body is excessive for the joints of
the leg or lower back to support.
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Stressful lives leading to pain
The increasingly stressful urban life also takes
its toll on the human mind and body causing
unnatural stress that result in different kinds
of pains and discomforts in the body. Body and
mind affect each other and mental or emotional
stress can cause pain in various parts of organs
of our body. This type of pain cannot be
completely obliterated unless the underlying
psychological or emotional cause is addressed. It
needs one to rethink ones lifestyle and make
profound changes in it to effectively get rid of
the painful conditions.
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Prevention of pain
The best way to heal any pain is to prevent it.
However, since pain is usually a symptom of
something deeper, it is not possible to prevent
it unless the deeper issues are resolved. It is
therefore essential that we take a holistic
approach towards pain and pain management and
treat the entire person by changing his overall
life-style to effectively win the battle against
pain.
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Interventional Pain Management
JoCasta Zamarripa
3 North Second Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
United States Contact No. 215-776-6404