Who is a pain management specialist?
Physicians specializing in treating, diagnosing, and preventing pain are pain specialists or pain management specialists. Patients can consult various types of pain specialists depending on their symptoms and diagnosis. Chronic pain can stem from multiple factors, so doctors in pain treatment may specialize in fields like rheumatology, orthopedics, gastrointestinal issues, or psychiatry.
A pain management specialist typically holds a Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degree. Some pain doctors pursue additional training after residency, known as fellowship training, to specialize in this field.
Many pain fellowships focus on interventional pain management techniques, which usually involve injections (such as nerve blocks), spinal cord stimulation with an implanted device, or placing a morphine pump in the spinal injections. The physicians become board-certified pain doctors after completing a residency or fellowship and passing a written exam. Some physicians choose a dual specialization in pain management, such as anesthesiology and palliative medicine, for their board certification.
What types of conditions do pain management physicians treat?
A pain management physician typically treats different forms of pain that can be categorized as follows:
- Tissue injury pain: Soft tissue injuries happen when the body's muscles, tendons, or ligaments are hurt. These injuries can occur suddenly, such as spraining an ankle from taking a step too rapidly. Apart from sprains, strains, contusions, tendinitis, and bursitis are soft-tissue injuries. Osteoarthritis (wear-and-tear arthritis in the major joints, such as the knees and hips) and rheumatoid arthritis are additional conditions that cause discomfort (arthritis due to an autoimmune reaction – felt in small joints like fingers and wrists).
- Pain due to a neurological system disorder or nerve damage: Nerve pain is a stabbing, piercing, searing, or excruciating pain. It could sometimes seem as powerful and sudden as an electric shock. These conditions include neuropathy, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord damage, post-stroke discomfort, and stroke (nerve pain due to shingles, HIV, and diabetes).
- Mixed pain conditions: It is a mix of both types of pain. Patients complain of back, neck, shoulder, or cancerous pain—but the wounded tissues and nerves are the primary cause.
How does pain management work?
A doctor specializing in pain management focuses on different methods to treat particular forms of pain. Along with employing medications, they provide physical, behavioral, and psychological treatment to help you manage your pain. Additionally, pain specialists may provide complementary or alternative medicine, education about your condition, and coaching on lifestyle modifications.
- Medications (anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants, and antidepressants) and injections that block pain are first-line treatments (nerve blocks or spinal injections). Using skin pads, it is also possible to utilize TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulators), which give low-voltage electrical current to sore locations.
- Second-line therapy entails sophisticated techniques like viscosupplementation or radiofrequency ablation (RFA). RFA involves applying heat or chemical substances to a nerve to block the pain signal transmissions. It treats chronic pain issues such as spinal arthritis. Viscosupplementation, a treatment for arthritic discomfort, involves injecting lubricating fluid into joints. The doctor can also recommend harsher drugs at this point.
- A spinal cord stimulator is the third line of treatment. The spinal cord, the body's control center for pain perception, is where these treatments work to relieve pain. At present, regenerative (stem cell) therapy is an additional choice.
How do pain management specialists determine the source of pain?
Your pain management specialist can perform different diagnostic procedures to find out why you are in pain. The doctor will want to know about your medical history in detail. They might also want you to get X-rays or blood tests to help diagnose the problem. A pain management specialist near you may recommend the following tests to assist in locating the source of your pain:
- Nerve blocks: These tests help cure and find the origin of your pain. Your doctor will inject an anesthetic into specific nerve areas to numb pain. They could do an imaging examination to select the ideal location for the needle. Understanding where your discomfort comes from becomes clearer when observing your response to the nerve block.
- MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides your doctor with detailed and clear images of organs and structures inside your body. This test creates graphics using radio waves, a computer, and a giant magnet. An MRI can take 15 minutes to over an hour, depending on the number of images.
- Ultrasound imaging: This exam uses high-frequency sound waves to produce images of the inside of the body. An image of the sound wave echoes is captured and shown in real time.
- Bone scans: These aid in diagnosing and monitoring infections, fractures, and other bone problems. A doctor injects a tiny quantity of radioactive material into your circulation. The substance will accumulate within the bones, especially in atypical regions. Then, a computer can recognize those precise regions.
- CT scan: Computed tomography (CT) scans create cross-sectional images of the body using computers and X-rays. During the scan, you lie on a table and remain as still as possible while the machine takes pictures. The table then moves you through a large scanning device. Sometimes, before the scan, your doctor might inject a solution into a vein to enhance visualization of internal processes and structures.
- Electromyogram (EMG): A physician can monitor muscle activity with an electromyogram. Your doctor will insert needles into your muscles to evaluate their response to electrical signals.
- Discography: Doctors recommend discography to individuals considering surgery for neck or back issues. Physicians use it to assess treatment options. In this procedure, dye is injected into the suspected painful disk, which helps highlight areas of damage on X-rays.
- Myelogram: This procedure is beneficial for treating neck and back discomfort. During this test, a dye is injected into your spinal canal. This test aids in diagnosing nerve compression brought on by fractures or herniated disks.
How should you prepare for your first pain management appointment?
If you have found a pain management specialist near you, preparing for the appointment beforehand is advisable for a successful first visit.
A pain management physician will inquire about your pain symptoms during your initial visit and review your medical history, list of ongoing medications, and surgical or diagnostic records, if any. The doctor may perform a complete, thorough physical examination. They may also order specific tests and procedures to diagnose your condition further. It includes blood tests, CT scans, MRI scans, nerve blocks, electromyography (EMG), discography, X-rays, or bone scans.
Keeping a pain journal or at least being aware of your pain patterns before the first appointment is beneficial. Common inquiries your doctor might make during your initial visit:
- Where are you hurting?
- How does your discomfort feel? How often do you feel pain? (Flat, aching, tingling)
- What is the frequency of the pain occurrence? (number of times in a day while working out or relaxing)
- What alleviates your pain?
- Does a specific drug work?
- When you have discomfort, have you observed any additional symptoms? (like loss of bladder or bowel control)
Find a pain management specialist near you in Gilbert, AZ
We encounter many unidentified pains that may or may not be critical in our daily lives. An expert in pain management can help you identify and deal with your issue. With Zocdoc, you can make a quick appointment without standing in a hospital line or reviewing thousands of recommendations.
Visit Zocdoc.com and enter your symptoms or condition, preferred location, appointment time, and insurance carrier to locate a pain specialist in Gilbert, Arizona. A list of doctor profiles will appear on your screen. Every pain management specialist on Zocdoc has a dedicated profile with details on their education, training, professional affiliations, honors, areas of expertise, years in practice, and licensure.
You can filter your results while looking for a provider on Zocdoc by their gender, hospital affiliation, languages they consult in, and whether or not they work with children. Additionally, Zocdoc updates its patient feedback database frequently. Finding the top-rated pain management specialist near you can be easier by reviewing these verified ratings and reviews.
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Statistics on pain conditions in Arizona
Pain is the most frequent reason Americans seek medical consultation and the second most frequent cause of ambulatory care visits. Pain is a factor in more than 20% of doctor visits and 10% of medicine sales.
HIV, diabetes, and excessive drinking can cause nerve damage, leading to sharp pain, muscle weakness, numbness, and tingling sensations. The Arizona Department of Health Services published a report with data on the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Arizona in 2020. Nearly 18,975 out of the approximately 7,278,717 population in Arizona had HIV/AIDS, with about 696 new cases in 2020. The state observed about 272 fatalities in the same year due to the condition.
According to America's Health Rankings report on the prevalence of diabetes in Arizona, around 11% of adults in the state had diabetes in 2021. Men and women were nearly equally affected, with almost 11.2% and around 10.9% cases, respectively. Age-wise distribution was as follows: about 21.4% were aged 65+, 15% were aged 45-64, and almost 2.9% were aged 18-44.
In 2021, nearly 17.5% of adults in Arizona reported consuming excess alcohol. More males (about 21.8%) were involved in this compared to females (about 13.2%). With around 23.5% of adults between 18-44 years old, this behavior was most common among the young population. Also, about 16% of adults were aged 45-64, and about 8% were 65 years and above.
Based on another America's Health Rankings analysis, around 24.2% of adults in Arizona had some form of arthritis in 2021. With approximately 27.5% of the affected population being females, they were slightly more affected by the disease than about 20.7% of males. Arthritis was more prevalent among the older population, with around 47.7% aged 65+. About 29.5% of people are aged 45-64, and approximately 8.2% are between 18-44.
Sources
Medical News Today
Arizona Department of Health Services
Stridewell
HealthCentral
National Spine & Pain Centers
America's Health Rankings[1]
America's Health Rankings[2]
America's Health Rankings[3]
WebMD
