Back Clinic Chronic Back Pain Team. Chronic back pain has a far-reaching effect on many physiological processes. Dr. Jimenez reveals topics and issues affecting his patients. Understanding the pain is critical to its treatment. So here we begin the process for our patients in the journey of recovery.
Just about everyone feels pain from time to time. When you cut your finger or pull a muscle, pain is your body’s way of telling you something is wrong. Once the injury heals, you stop hurting.
Chronic pain is different. Your body keeps hurting weeks, months, or even years after the injury. Doctors often define chronic pain as any pain that lasts for 3 to 6 months or more.
Chronic back pain can have real effects on your day-to-day life and your mental health. But you and your doctor can work together to treat it.
Do call upon us to help you. We do understand the problem that should never be taken lightly.
Dietitians at Integrative and Functional Medicine (DIFM) is a specialty clinic group of nutrition professionals whose center philosophy centers around a holistic, personalized approach to healing and health. Members incorporate many different nutrition remedies such as brain/body modalities in clinical practice supplements and whole foods.
How is nutrition a part of integrative and functional medicine?
Integrative medicine is the practice of medicine that reaffirms the value of the connection between professional and patient, focuses on the entire individual, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapeutic approaches, healthcare professionals, and areas to achieve optimal health and healing.
Functional medicine addresses the underlying causes of illness utilizing a systems-oriented approach and engaging both practitioner and patient at a healing partnership. Functional medicine involves understanding complex, chronic disease’s origins, prevention, and therapy. Hallmarks of a functional medicine approach include:
Patient-centered care. The focus of functional medicine is on care boosting health beyond the absence of illness; as a positive energy. By listening to the patient and studying his or her narrative, the practitioner tailors treatments that address the unique needs of the individual and brings the individual relief.
An integrative, science-based health care strategy. Functional medicine professionals seem “upstream” to think about the intricate web of interactions in the individual’s history, physiology, and lifestyle that can cause disease. The distinctive genetic makeup of each individual is considered, combined with both internal (brain, body, and soul) and external (physical and social environment) variables that affect overall functioning.
Integrating best medical clinics. Functional medicine integrates traditional Western medical practices with what is sometimes regarded as “choice” or “integrative” medicine, creating a focus on prevention through nutrition, diet, and exercise; use of the latest diagnostic techniques; and prescribed combinations of drugs and/or botanical medicines, supplements, therapeutic diets, detoxification programs, or stress-management practices.
Functional Medicine and Nutrition
Functional medication has, for years, been the promoters and teachers of using food as medicine. According to the Institute for Functional Medicine, “functional nutrition highlights the value of top quality meals and phytonutrient diversity to deal with clinical imbalances and move people toward the maximum expression of health. Advanced nutrition evaluation and a comprehensive functional medicine based history leads to a personalized therapeutic intervention made to promote optimal health and protect against diet- and lifestyle-related disease.”
Integrative and functional medicine nutritionists have been uniquely trained and have many years of experience incorporating the art and science of integrative and functional nutrition treatment. They understand that giving you a standard diet plan based on a diagnosis is just not enough to foster optimum recovery. After all, one size does not fit all and they strive to provide the maximum quality of individualized nutrition care to all of our patients.
Practice-Based Evidence for Nutrition
Practice-based evidence promotes the worth of their wisdom and evidence gained by the professional’s clinical observations and experiences. The Dietitians in the Integrative and Functional Medicine (DIFM) practice group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has developed Standards of Practice (SOP) and Standards of Professional Performance (SOPP) in Integrative and Functional Medicine. The SOP addresses the Nutrition Care Process (NCP) and actions related to person-centered care. The SOPP are statements that describe a level of behaviour in the role.
The Integrative and Functional Medicine Nutrition Therapy (IFMNT) Radial was established within an integrated conceptual framework to assist in IFMNT practice. The structure of this IFMNT Radial allows for the analysis of interrelationships and interactions. The Radial depicts that food is still a source of information that affects, and is influenced by, the five areas also as a factor in disease and health.
The five key areas include: lifestyle, systems (signs and symptoms), heart imbalances, metabolic pathways, and biomarkers. Surrounding the Radial are currently precipitating. The SOP, at the June 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, is along with the IFMNT Radial.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
By Dr. Alex Jimenez
Additional Topics: Wellness
Overall health and wellness are essential towards maintaining the proper mental and physical balance in the body. From eating a balanced nutrition as well as exercising and participating in physical activities, to sleeping a healthy amount of time on a regular basis, following the best health and wellness tips can ultimately help maintain overall well-being. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can go a long way towards helping people become healthy.
“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will teach his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease”. These wise words were uttered by Thomas Edison more than a hundred years back at the start of the 20th century, the century which could become the conventional system’s expansion we know today regarding alternative treatment options and functional medicine.
What is the future of health care?
The past century has been in many ways an entire departure from Edison’s words. Away from looking at the foods we eat and prevention and toward the Big Pharma, sick care system: diagnose a disease and match it with a corresponding drug. Despite spending more on healthcare than the next 10 top-spending nations combined, the U.S. has the most persistent illness cases and shortest life span of all industrialized nations.
In accordance with a comprehensive study by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, American men rated last in life expectancy, and women were ranked second to last. When it comes to the health of a pregnant mother or her child, the U.S. has the maximum mortality rate among all developed countries. The U.S. also has the third-worst mortality rate from nutritional deficiencies, and also the greatest total age-adjusted mortality rate among all developed nations.
Despite the wonderful progress in life saving surgeries and emergency care, when it comes to chronic health ailments and longevity, we are doing something abysmally wrong. Seeing the shadow surrounding the medical care system, functional medicine has been attempting to supply a solution to this issue.
Yet even today, a lot of people don’t fully comprehend what functional medicine is, or why they need to try it. Well, here are six compelling reasons to give functional medicine a try.
Functional Medicine Interprets Results Differently
On your labs there is typically a reference range that tells you what’s considered “normal.” Anything out of this reference array is typically labeled as “high” or “low” in bold font. A statistical bell curve typical of that specific lab’s populace determines that reference range.
If your laboratory is one number away from being out of the benchmark range, you’re still categorized as “normal.” But disease doesn’t start as soon as you’re out of that diagnostic range. Unfortunately, this means you’re either, trending toward disorder, outside of the benchmark array, or you’re trending toward health.
There are a whole lot of people who go to a healthcare professiona, only to discover why they are struggling with health issues, and their labs return “normal.” They leave without any answers or remedies and’re told there is not anything wrong with them. A medication lab analysis sheds light on unanswered health concerns that fall through the cracks of the standard model of maintenance.
Functional Medicine Provides More Diagnostics
In addition to interpreting the labs that mainstream medical professionals run, functional medicine goes past the label of this disease to check out the full extent of a patient’s physiology. So that it can be paired with a pharmaceutical drug, typically a disease is diagnosed by the labs at the standard model of care. They’re very incomplete from a functional medicine perspective, although the labs your doctor runs are adequate if he is prescribing medications.
Comprehensive labs to examine underlying deficiencies, imbalances, infections and dysfunctions, give excellent insight into these frequently overlooked portions of your health issues.
Functional Medicine Customizes Healthcare
As soon as you’re tagged with a disorder in mainstream medicine, you are given the very same medications everyone else with this disease is given. This cookie cutter strategy works occasionally, but more often than not, it fails miserably. Medication takes into account that we designed a bit differently, so what works for one person may not always be right for you. A detailed health plan that is tailored addresses that you are seeing results.
Functional Medicine and Patients
Mainstream medicine is really bogged down with symptom care. That is why every six months you wait an hour at your physician’s office for a regular visit. This system is failing millions of Americans suffering from chronic health conditions.
In terms of crisis care, emergencies and surgeries, we have among the very best health care systems in the world, but in regards to chronic healthcare, the U.S. is still one of the worst industrialized health care systems in the world.
Functional Medicine and Addressing Dysfunctions
While mainstream medicine is structured to manage symptoms, functional medicine is primarily concerned with addressing the underlying dysfunctions of the body that give rise to symptoms. If someone has high blood sugar, he’s typically medicines that stimulate the pancreas to produce more insulin, which attracts down the blood sugar.
Functional medication asks why a patient has high blood glucose in the first place. Very rarely is somebody sick from a medication deficiency. They may have cellular insulin resistance, brain-adrenal axis dysfunctions causing cortisol along with a gut disease leading to their own blood sugar dis-balance.
In this example there is nothing actually wrong with the pancreas, therefore while the medicine will make their blood sugar numbers seem nicer on a laboratory, it does not address the reasons they’re high in the first place. So functional medicine may be the missing link to getting healthy and getting off drugs and medications.
Remedies Are Essential in Functional Medicine
Functional medicine is not anti-medication, however, practitioners may ask what the individual’s most effective alternative is, and that which causes the fewest side effects. It’s maybe the smartest choice, if a drug fits that criteria. However, it often is not.
Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, said tens of thousands of years back, “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine thy food,” and practical medication agrees. Food is used as medicine in a state specific manner. Herbal and micronutrient medicines are used to address the dysfunctions found on the labs to encourage healthy function.
It’s important to not forget, though, that even with natural choices and foods, what works for one person might not work for the next. We need to tailor the program for the individual instead of being the alternative model of mainstream medicine, using its magical pills and “one-size-fits-all” approach.
This new era of evidence-based all-natural health care is providing hope for all. As a result of new technologies, webcam consultations with people give the exceptional opportunity to share functional medicine. Edison’s words are coming true. Let the future begin.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
By Dr. Alex Jimenez
Additional Topics: Wellness
Overall health and wellness are essential towards maintaining the proper mental and physical balance in the body. From eating a balanced nutrition as well as exercising and participating in physical activities, to sleeping a healthy amount of time on a regular basis, following the best health and wellness tips can ultimately help maintain overall well-being. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can go a long way towards helping people become healthy.
Chronic pain can pose many problems. Traditional medicine delivers a broad selection of treatment options, some more powerful than others. And these choices have a wide spectrum of benefits which may not always be best for everyone.
Should you consider alternative treatments for chronic pain?
There are a variety of traditional medicine treatments and procedures for treating chronic pain. For many pain management specialists, treatment may include steroid injections to decrease inflammation. For others, treatment might suggest procedures, such as narcotics, drugs or medications, to reduce the pain signals.
But, these remedies are only designed to temporarily relieve the symptom of pain. You must return again in a couple of weeks for one more prescription or shot refill. While these remedies can be effective at pain management,they also carry effects that can display as adverse effects to the patient
Common pain control drugs such as oxycodone and hydrocodone are known to have long-term unwanted side effects. Most commonly we think of this extremely addictive nature of the drugs, and our body becomes determined by the drugs to operate without pain. Research has also confirmed the cost that these drugs take in your liver and endocrine system. Levels are disrupted that can start a domino effect that disrupts you mood, metabolism, sleep, and sexual role, among other things. When these types of treatments are not preferred, other treatments should be considered.
How Functional Medicine Differs from Traditional Medicine
Functional medicine has proven tremendously effective at combating chronic pain because of its main focus: Concentrate on the underlying cause, instead of just masking the symptom.
When using medications to dull or numb pain, effectively you are disrupting the signals being transmitted to your brain so that your brain doesn’t feel the pain. But instead of numbing the pain, functional medicine focuses first on determining the source of the individual’s painful symptoms.
Functional Medicine doctors work with patients everyday who deal with chronic pain on a regular basis. Many of these patients believed that they would devote the rest of their lives on tablets and injections and surgical processes to temporarily alleviate the pain. When it is a patient who’s dealing with arthritis, that is truly an autoimmune illness, or somebody who is recovering from an auto accident and has been through numerous surgeries, functional medicine includes a regimen of non-invasive treatments that heal you from the inside out.
At precisely the exact same time, it has been recognized that there’s a time and place for more advanced medical care that may require invasive processes. This should not be your first plan of action.
Allow qualified and experienced healthcare professionals to design a customized program that unites their foundational understanding of chiropractic care together with the quickly-developing research behind functional medicine. Understanding how your system integrates with other body systems is the secret so that you can simply live pain free, breaking free from the cycle of chronic pain and find proper pain management treatments.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
By Dr. Alex Jimenez
Additional Topics: Wellness
Overall health and wellness are essential towards maintaining the proper mental and physical balance in the body. From eating a balanced nutrition as well as exercising and participating in physical activities, to sleeping a healthy amount of time on a regular basis, following the best health and wellness tips can ultimately help maintain overall well-being. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can go a long way towards helping people become healthy.
According to the American College of Preventive Medicine, most chronic diseases are preventable and reversible if a comprehensive, individualized approach that addresses genetics, diet, stress, physical activity, and sleep is implemented through integrated functional medicine teams and based on empirical research.
What are the functional medicine treatment approaches?
In this way, health is perceived as more than the absence of illness, just as illness is more than the absence of health.�In order for the body to live up to this principle, it needs to be supplied with the necessary nutrients through a healthy diet, adequate sleep, movement/exercise, and management of stress.
Functional Medicine Approach #1 – A Elimination Diet
Remember that every time someone eats, that changes body chemistry. A functional medicine clinic often guides patients to implement a modified removal diet. Patients are educated to remove certain foods from their diet, such as those containing gluten or dairy, and are encouraged to adjust (increase) the consumption of fruits and vegetables that encompass every color of the rainbow. Patients are advised to remove all added sugars. This practice is often difficult for people; therefore, the FM team must work to encourage their compliance with the elimination diet.
Utilization of an elimination diet requires a patient to remove the most frequent causes of food sensitivity (milk, gluten, high saturated fats, highly processed foods) while tracking clinical symptoms to see if there’s an improvement. In addition, patients are advised to eat protein, healthy fats, nuts and seeds, beans, and beverages to support a more anti-inflammatory way of life. Whenever possible, we urge that individuals select meats that are wild-caught organic, and grass-fed. Basically, patients are directed to consume only “actual” food, not processed.
Patients are advised to follow this diet for 3 months (detoxification period) and log any changes that exist within their physique. Patients are taught to read and understand food labels, to ask questions of restaurants and manufacturers, and to ask their healthcare staff about any food ingredients of concern. At the end of 3 weeks, patients are given the choice to keep with the outlined diet or to go back to their dietary lifestyle.
Functional Medicine Approach #2 – Physical Exercise
The focus then is to review the individual’s improvement on her or his detoxification procedure during the elimination diet. Patients are encouraged to raise questions about any foods that they avoid, or need to have more or less of, add, or refrain from eating. Assessing a patient’s food logs, and directing the steps every patient plans to take with respect to dietary alterations during the week can further help achieve this.
This process is further eased using mindfulness eating techniques. Mindfulness is an exercise in consciousness, or only noticing. We believe that mindfulness is the basis that has been missing for a lot of people, and is the key to helping them conquer food cravings, addictive eating, binge eating, emotional eating, and stress eating, as well as immunity to or limits in their physical activity plan. This technique is also helpful in different aspects such as stress and sleep.
The objective of mindfulness is not to alter anything so much as to allow the mind to go where it wants, and also to be aware if it wanders. Being mindful entails the capacity to detect one’s ideas and sensations (eg, taste, smell, preferences). The aim of mindfulness is to raise patients’ awareness of feelings, their own body functions, and ideas.
The second pillar focuses on physical exercise. Physical exercise is any activity that includes stretching, strengthening, cardiovascular health, or other exercises, and enhances or preserves physical fitness and general wellness and health. In this session, we emphasize the need for strength knowing that aerobic exercises are generally promoted. Strengthening exercises work on muscles to help give equilibrium that is physical and added strength. Cardiovascular (aerobic) exercises may include walking, biking, and swimming, and needs to be carried out regularly for at least 30 minutes each or according to the person’s tolerance levels.
When working with people with chronic pain, it is important to adjust an exercise program to accomodate the patient’s requirements and capacities. While others could be stiff or sore, many chronic pain patients are deconditioned. Some people are prone to pushing though some could be preoccupied with dread of pain which causes an avoidance of the action altogether to complete a job. Often, people wait for a “great day” to finish rigorous activity. A cycle of overactivity can happen on a recurring basis and cause unwanted effects, such as injury or re-injury.
During this particular session, patients receive instruction on time-based actions to help them pace themselves while completing daily tasks. In pacing, time provides the guide for activity participation, instead of the feeling of pain. To put it differently, patients must measure the amount of time that they could engage before sensing pain, instead of waiting to grow to signal them to stop. Pacing helps to keep a consistent action level over time, which can be rehabilitative and involves taking breaks.
Functional Medicine Approach #3 – Sleep Hygiene
In the third session, the supplier starts with a review to assess a patient’s progress toward his or her personal objectives. The focus would be to introduce education about the psychology of proper sleep hygiene and stress control. Many patients that suffer with chronic pain normally have unsatisfactory or poor sleep patterns.
During this particular session, patients are educated about sleeping influencers and are invited to make changes to some element that may be impeding sleep in a negative way. Providers may also suggest stimulation control and provide guidance designed to associate bedtime with all the rapid onset of sleep and also to establish a normal sleep-wake schedule that’s consistent with the person’s circadian sleep cycle.
The psychologist and individual also identify any psychological issues and stressors that may exert a negative impact on sleep. Patients are taught to use relaxation techniques to help reduce anxiety and initiate sleep and are directed through a progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) workout which can be employed at home to promote sound sleep. PMR is a method which will help reduce muscle tension by alternately tensing and relaxing the muscles. PMR entails a physical and mental component. The component involves tensing and relaxing different muscle groups, whereas the mental component focuses on differentiating between feelings of anxiety and relaxation. With exercise, the patient learns how to effectively introduce relaxation to attain a decrease in muscle strain, which reduce stress as well as enhance sleep.
Functional Medicine Approach #4 – Stress Management
The group therapy protocol concludes from the fourth semester with a concise overview of important topics in the previous sessions, with an emphasis on progress made toward human goals, problem-solving against some barriers to treatment recommendations, and encouraging each player to make personal goals for posttreatment.
Patients are challenged to maintain their diet regime going ahead or opt to reintroduce foods back into their diets. Patients who opt to incorporate back foods are encouraged to include select foods, one at a time, each for one day. Patients are taught to integrate the food back into the diet if no detectable symptoms or sensitivity reactions happen.
This consideration is presented to reinforce the notion that incorporating back foods might come in the resurfacing of symptoms that were removed or greatly diminished when certain foods were removed from the diet, allowing the individual to create a decision regarding his or her priorities according to her or his level of commitment. Although this can be a 4-session application, patients are also encouraged to create follow-up appointments for individual consultation visits to explore targeted concerns and requirements. The goal of the program is to educate and support self-care for the length of the program, but also for a lifetime, not only among chronic pain sufferers.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
By Dr. Alex Jimenez
Additional Topics: Wellness
Overall health and wellness are essential towards maintaining the proper mental and physical balance in the body. From eating a balanced nutrition as well as exercising and participating in physical activities, to sleeping a healthy amount of time on a regular basis, following the best health and wellness tips can ultimately help maintain overall well-being. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can go a long way towards helping people become healthy.
Functional Medicine can help with according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the CDC, chronic diseases and ailments, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, type two diabetes, obesity, and arthritis, are the most common, expensive, and preventable of all health problems. The prevalence of chronic pain is higher than that of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease combined.
What is the prevalence of chronic pain?
In the USA, 86% of all healthcare spending in 2010 has been directed at people with one or more chronic ailments. Alarming projections indicate future generations may have shorter, less healthy lifestyles, and health care costs are estimated to grow to $4.153 trillion. Behaviours, such as being inadequate nutrition, sedentary, tobacco use, and alcohol intake, lead to much of distress, this illness, and death linked to chronic diseases and ailments.
According to the American College of Preventive Medicine, many chronic diseases are preventable and reversible in the event a comprehensive, individualized strategy that addresses genetics, diet, stress, physical activity, and sleep is executed through integrated functional medicine teams and based on empirical research. Health is perceived as more than just as illness is greater than the lack of health in the person’s body.
What’s Functional Medicine?
Functional medicine (FM) addresses the underlying causes of illness, using a systems-oriented approach and engaging both practitioner and patient at a healing partnership. The practitioner can support the healing process by viewing illness and health as part of a cycle, all components of the biological system interact dynamically with the surroundings by changing the attention of clinic to a patient-centered approach. Functional medicine also takes as its focus, one relationship: the sacred trust between the person and the doctor who chooses to be the patient of the provider. Functional medicine is further directed by 6 core fundamentals:
Recognizing the biochemical individuality of every Individual, based on the theories of genetics and environmental influence
Emphasis on a patient-centered rather than a disease-centered approach to remedy
Trying to find a dynamic equilibrium among the internal and external experiences
Familiarity with the intricate relations of internal physiological things
Identification of health as a positive vitality, not merely the absence of disorder
Promotion of organ preservation because the capacity to enhance the well-being span, not only the lifespan of every individual. The role of professionals would be to spend time listening to their histories and taking a look at the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that could influence complicated and long-term health disease, such as chronic pain. Experiences can result in the upkeep of chronic pain, exercise, diet, thoughts, feelings, and environmental consequences.
Science has given support to what may be known unconsciously, how we live, the quality of our relationships, how the food that we eat, and how we use our own bodies, have a much bigger effect than genetics ever will. By fixing these poor habits, in other words, pain is treated by functional medicine. This is also a basic principle of health. Functioning correctly, FM helps practitioners treat patients, to prevent, and cure chronic conditions efficiently and at lower cost compared to traditional medical paradigm.
The “I” in disease underlines how disease affects the body or thoughts of the individual, and also the “w” in health leads us to work together to attain a condition of being in great physical and psychological health. Thus, the approach into the management of pain is delivered in a group format. The group therapy protocol includes 4 sessions which are approximately 60 to 75 minutes each in duration. The treatment team consists of a dietitian an osteopath doctor, and a health psychologist. Patients are coached to modify their surroundings and live an anti inflammatory lifestyle through 4 important pillars: 1) diet, 2) exercise, 3) stress control( and 4) sleep hygiene.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
By Dr. Alex Jimenez
Additional Topics: Wellness
Overall health and wellness are essential towards maintaining the proper mental and physical balance in the body. From eating a balanced nutrition as well as exercising and participating in physical activities, to sleeping a healthy amount of time on a regular basis, following the best health and wellness tips can ultimately help maintain overall well-being. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can go a long way towards helping people become healthy.
Chronic pain is pain that doesn’t go away. Unlike acute pain, that comes on suddenly and can usually be traced directly to a cause, chronic pain lingers and it isn’t easy to tell what is causing it. That is the situation that millions of chronic pain sufferers have been in: there’s no reason as to why they have persistent pain.
In actuality, chronic pain in itself can be considered a disease or illness. Most times, pain is a symptom of another illness or problem. If pain becomes persistent, though, it isn’t just a sign of a problem, it is the issue.
What can you do about chronic pain?
One typically accepted definition of chronic pain is pain that still remains, even when the related injury or disease has been healed. It’s pain that persists 6 months or longer after the associated injury or disease has been managed. Chronic pain not only affects the body physically, it can also affect the mind.
Psychologists and Chronic Pain
Being referred to a psychologist as part of the chronic pain treatment plan does not necessarily mean your doctor thinks that your pain is only mental. If your doctor refers you it usually means that they are well-aware of the effects pain can have on the mind. It means that the healthcare professional is currently taking a multi-disciplinary strategy to your pain, one which may comprise of psychology, physical therapy, and medications, for example. Since chronic pain is a condition that is multi-faceted, it needs a multi-faceted therapy plan.
A Psychologist’s Role
Chronic pain does involve an emotional component. Back in 1979, the International Association for the Study of Pain redefined pain. They said that it’s a “sensory and emotional experience. ” A translation: pain has physical and emotional sides, and it exists even if there is no identifiable cause. In other words, the pain simply exists because the individual feels (or thinks he or she feels) it. Persistent pain can have a psychological toll on an individual’s life. The following list of ideas aren’t atypical for a chronic pain patient to have when dealing with the painful symptoms.
I can not work since I am in so much pain, so I am worthless for my loved ones.
I do not even feel like myself anymore since my whole life revolves round this annoyance.
I’m so lonely and isolated because no one understands my pain.
I’m whining too much about my annoyance, I’m such a weakling! I must just put on a happy face.
I can’t even do the simplest tasks anymore. I’m a failure.
With thoughts such as that dominating your mind, it can be difficult to fully deal with your pain. The psychological aspect can still make you feel trapped with the pain, although you might be taking actions to take care of the physical elements of your pain. A psychologist can help you deal with the psychological impact of chronic pain.
Utilizing behavioral treatment techniques, a psychologist can help you identify and change negative thoughts, ideas that can aggravate your pain. The psychologist can help you cope with anxiety, any depression, or other mood disorders related to chronic pain. What happens in sessions with your psychologist is left up to you, but it’s a time to be completely and totally truthful about how chronic pain is affecting your ideas, relationships, career, and self-esteem. The main goal is to help you live your life fully, restoring your overall health and wellness, mentally.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
By Dr. Alex Jimenez
Additional Topics: Wellness
Overall health and wellness are essential towards maintaining the proper mental and physical balance in the body. From eating a balanced nutrition as well as exercising and participating in physical activities, to sleeping a healthy amount of time on a regular basis, following the best health and wellness tips can ultimately help maintain overall well-being. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can go a long way towards helping people become healthy.
Many Americans in the United States will visit a healthcare professional’s office reporting some type of pain. While most cases of pain are considered acute, or temporary, resolving after the injury or condition causing the symptoms has healed, a large percentage of individuals will still report pain long after the source has disappeared. This is known as chronic pain. Fortunately, there are a variety of treatment methods which can also help ease these symptoms.
Are injections used to treat chronic pain?
From physical therapy and chiropractic care, to drugs and medications, numerous types of treatment methods and therapies can be used to treat chronic pain, each more beneficial to certain people than others. Epidural steroid injections and facet joint injections are some of the most common types of injections utilized to ease chronic pain symptoms. For some individuals, injections may be more useful than other forms of treatment. As with any medical procedure, however, it’s important to understand how helpful these can be for each, individual patient.
Epidural Corticosteroid Injections for Chronic Pain
Although epidural steroid injections (also called epidural corticosteroid injections) can be helpful to confirm a diagnosis, they should be used primarily after a specific presumptive diagnosis has been established. Additionally, injections shouldn’t be used in isolation, but rather in combination with a program strengthening, stressing muscle flexibility, and operational recovery, most commonly associated with chronic pain, in this case.
Appropriate follow-up after shots to rate ability and the individual’s treatment response to progress in the rehabilitation program is indispensable. Observation of this response is necessary prior to a second or third shot, although a number of injections can be attempted to decrease pain. Epidural steroid injections are an adjunct treatment, which facilitates participation in an active exercise program and may assist in avoiding the need for surgical intervention.
Treatment Rationale
The rationale for the use of epidural corticosteroid injection has enhanced with the signs of an inflammatory basis for radicular pain from disc herniation. Although prospective trials are lacking, epidural steroids have been proven to be effective in pain reduction in patients with referred pain. If used in the initial weeks after onset the efficacy is increased.
The goal of these injections would be to facilitate an active exercise program and also to progress sufferers through the pain and inflammation phase of healing as quickly as possible. As with all injections, it needs to be a part of a comprehensive treatment plan involving active exercise programs.
How the Injection Is Applied
To ensure proper needle placement of corticosteroids, fluoroscopic guidance is recommended. Meaning a healthcare professional will use special imaging gear during the injection to be sure the needle is going in at the right place. Some patients may require more than one injection. Repeat shots should be based on goals and the response after the injection. It is not necessary for many patients to experience a set number or “series” of injections. If minimal to no advancement is found following two shots, then further similar shots aren’t warranted. The recent usage of the approach allows the medicine to be delivered in a fashion to the ventral part of the spinal canal. All patients must be followed by consecutive injections (10-14 days later) to assess therapeutic reaction.
Utilization of Epidural Steroid Injections
Epidural shots and intradiscal injections have been used in treating non-radicular degenerative disc disorder with limited success. In addition, epidural steroids are used in patients with neurogenic claudication from spinal stenosis with mixed outcomes. A number of shots can be tried to decrease pain thought to be at least in part mediated by inflammation.
Facet Joint Injections for Chronic Pain
The therapeutic advantage of facet injections remains controversial. The controversy starts with the significance of the background and examination with lower back pain. Many patients will complain of back and lower extremity pain with standing, walking, and extension-type pursuits. The examination is normal, and also tests for nerve root inflammation are often negative. Many patients may have increased pain on passive expansion, or extension and rotation.
Additionally, radiographic and bone scanning imaging hasn’t been useful in selecting appropriate patients for facet injections. Consequently, the primary job of facet injections remains diagnostic. There is support for the impact of shots or ablations of the nerves. Facet injections should be used for patients who have failed a guided non-operative treatment program that incorporates various manipulation/mobilization methods. They should be done under fluoroscopic guidance and are not suggested in the initial four to six weeks of treatment.
Goal of Facet Joint Injections
The goal of facet injections is to verify the diagnosis and perhaps assist with pain reduction to be able to alleviate an active physical treatment program. If prior injections were helpful and there’s a recurrence of pain, they can be replicated replicate injections should be limited. This process should be used only in people failing a comprehensive application and in no manner should be considered at the initial management of an incident of acute low back pain.
Be sure to seek the proper guidance from an experienced and qualified healthcare professional before attempting any medical procedure, method or therapy. Injections for chronic pain are only one form of treatment used for the mentioned symptoms. Other treatment options can be used alongside these or in place of the above.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
By Dr. Alex Jimenez
Additional Topics: Wellness
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