Pain Management

 

Pain Management

WE TREAT THE DEPENDENCE AND THEN THE PAIN

We understand what you’re going through and are here to help you. A dependency on prescription medication has become common in this country. It is estimated that today more than 4.7 million Americans are dependent on prescription medications. Whether it is a result of a physical injury
caused by an accident, surgery, anxiety, or chronic pain caused by cancer or another disease, people from every walk of life are struggling with this problem. This is a problem that does not have any external signs. It is not something that is easily identified just by a looking at a person, and can affect anyone, anywhere; but we can help.

Most dependencies to prescription medications begin from the initial injury or trauma resulting in narcotic pain management. Over time, you need more and more medication to control the pain until you realize that you have become dependent on your medication. Eventually, the pull of the medication takes over every aspect of your day to day life and your life is controlled by the drugs.

Physical dependency means that even if you want to stop taking the drug or drugs, it becomes extremely uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous, due to the withdrawal symptoms. The physical process of withdrawal is complex. The brain has responded to the presence of the pain medication by increasing the number of receptors for the drug. As a result, the nerve cells in the brain stop functioning normally. The body stops producing endorphins - the body's natural painkillers - because it is receiving opiates instead.
The degeneration of the nerve cells in the brain creates a physical dependency on an external opiate supply. Reducing or stopping the drugs leads to a painful series of physiological changes. This is withdrawal and it can mimic the original symptoms that started you on the painkillers or tranquilizers.
At this point, a person may continue taking the medication to avoid the effects of withdrawal, rather than taking it to alleviate the pain or anxiety that triggered the initial drug use and never realize the difference.
One prescription from a physician can, over weeks, months or even years, lead to a dependency. Many people continue taking the drugs long after the initial injury has healed or the pain has stopped. Often the person takes increasingly higher does of drugs like Vicodin, Xanax or OxyContin - more than was first prescribed by their doctor.
Most drug treatment programs do not confront the issue of overprescribing these medications and often blame the person for this and label them an addict and therefore, hinder their path to recovery. We treat the pain and the dependence.
Years of dependency on prescription pain medication can often intensify the pain. It can make it difficult for patients to distinguish which pain is from the initial injury and which pain is from the use of the pain medications.
Once we detox you from the pain medication, you will learn new, non-narcotic ways to treat the pain or anxiety. Our medical Pain Physicians along with Acupuncture, Pain Psychotherapy and EMDR Therapy are some of the ways that pain can be managed without the use of opiates. Exercise and nutrition are also incorporated into the program. Respect, self-esteem and responsibility become an integral part of a treatment program.
At The Treatment Center the goal is to Restore Hope using the interdisciplinary approach. This will help to achieve a life that is either pain-free or one that can exist without the use of prescription pain medications.

Pain Medicine Dependency

Our Pain Medicine Physicians

Chronic pain combined with long term use of pain medication can begin to control every aspect of your life. If your pain has not been resolved in a reasonable time (3-6 months) you may require different options to return you to a normal productive life.
After a comprehensive evaluation, our team will develop a treatment plan individualized to your needs.
First we safely and comfortably detox you from the pain medication you are currently taking. We utilize the latest medical techniques including but not limited to Blood Patch, Epidural injections, Discography, Facet injections, Fluoroscopic guided intervention, Neurolytic blocks, Nucleoplasty, Occipital nerve blocks, Radiofrequency neurolysis and ablation, Rhizotomy Sacroiliac joint injections, Selective nerve blocks and numerous other treatments to relieve your acute or chronic pain. Many services are provided at our facility, however, treatments offered in-house may be referred out for an additional charge.

Acupuncture - Pain Management

Acupuncture is one of the oldest forms of alternative medicine. It involves inserting fine needles into specific points in the body to restore and maintain overall health. Acupuncture is often used to control pain and other symptoms associated with many medical conditions.


src="http://www.thetreatmentcenter.com/pictures/Accupuncture-meridians.jpg" title="Acupuncture" width="221" />Acupuncture is a traditional, ancient form of Chinese medicine. The body is a balance between two opposing forces, yin and yang. When the balance between these forces is disrupted, it leads to a blockage of qi, the vital energy or life force responsible for a person's spiritual, emotional, mental and physical balance. This blockage is thought to cause pain.
Qi is believed to travel through the body in pathways known as meridians. Each meridian corresponds to one specific organ or system. Specific acupuncture points are stimulated by inserting thin, solid, sterile metal needles into the specific meridians.
Most people feel no pain or minimal discomfort as the needles are inserted. The number and placement of the needles is dependent on the problem being treated. About 8.2 million Americans, according to a survey, have had acupuncture as a form of pain management. The medical community is beginning to accept acupuncture as a complimentary therapy. Its place as a weapon fighting pain is becoming more a part of integrative medicine.
At The Treatment Center, we believe that hope exists and that learning ways to conquer pain, without addictive pain medication, is possible. Acupuncture is a part of our integrative pain management treatment program.

LASER THERAPY

New Breakthrough Science for Quick Pain Relief and Healing is now available at The Treatment Center. Around the world, Laser Therapy is rapidly becoming the choice for patients seeking painless, non-narcotic, and drug-free treatments for a wide variety of injuries, pain syndromes, neurological conditions and pathologies. Safe photons that are produced by the laser are applied over the appropriate treatment sight, and they penetrate the skin's layers and create positive changes in the body that allow the cells to heal and repair themselves in an accelerated manner.

Low level laser is safe and approved by the FDA and it has been used internationally for over 20 years with outstanding results. Extensive documentation and studies have shown the laser to be effective as well as totally painless, most patients actually feel no sensation during treatment. Our skilled laser therapy medical professionals have years of experience in the handling difficult cases and producing excellent results.

Following laser therapy 75-80% of patients notice an immediate improvement in their condition. Laser therapy speeds up the healing process in the cells that can help create a stronger and longer lasting effect, and many patients conditions are permanently resolved after completing their treatment plans.

Low Level Laser is the new, "Non-Invasive Therapy" which could end your suffering NOW!

Massage Therapy

The Treatment Center's pain management program includes a comprehensive massage therapy program. Gary Tong is a Licensed Massage Therapist and specializes in Tai Chi and Qigong. He also is proficient in Swedish massage, Deep Tissue, Thai and Acupressure Massage. This combination will help to alleviate pain, correct skeletal structure, reduce stress, increase circulation and balance internal energy, or "chi." The goal is to evoke a positive emotional state.
Massage therapy is a natural healing art that has been used for thousands of years in Asia and other parts of the world. Massage therapy has become an integral part of complimentary medicine and has a central role in pain management.
The effectiveness of massage lies in a simple and direct strategy. Working from the outside, outer mechanisms of pain to the primary, root cause of the pain, massage helps to refocus a person and their reaction to pain. The massage therapists at The Treatment Center use a holistic approach, focusing on the whole body system and its relationship to soft tissue. Their care is not focused only on the site of the pain.
In a 2000 study from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, it was found that massage reduces pain and muscle spasms in patients with multiple surgical incisions. When surveyed, 95 percent of patients felt that massage therapy was a crucial part of their hospital experience and their need for pain medications fell on the days that they received a massage.
At The Treatment Center, we believe that a integrated approach will help you to achieve a healthy life without the need for pain medications. With massage therapy, we can help you to manage your pain and start enjoying life again.

EMDR Therapy

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a comprehensive, therapeutic approach to address the experiential contributor of a wide range of pathologies. It addresses past experiences, which have led to pathology, current situations that trigger dysfunctional emotions, beliefs and sensations.
While primarily used in the treatment of trauma, research has demonstrated that clients at all stages of chemical dependency, sexual addiction, and other pathological behaviors - like an addiction to pain medications - have a decreased tendency to relapse when treated with EMDR therapy.
Preliminary studies have suggested that EMDR can be successful in eliminating or substantially reducing pain as well.
The American Psychiatric Association has recommended EMDR as an effective treatment of trauma. The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense have placed EMDR in the "A category" as "strongly recommended" for the treatment of trauma for many individuals with pain medication dependency issues.
EMDR is now accepted as a treatment of choice by numerous mental health and trauma organizations.
EMDR therapy uses bilateral stimulation, right/left eye movement, or tactile stimulation, which repeatedly activates the opposite sides of the brain, releasing emotional experiences that are "trapped" in the nervous system. This helps the neurophysiological system, the core of the mind/body connection, to finally free itself of blockages and reconnect itself. This ultimately smoothes the road to recovery.
EMDR therapy is most effective when used together with other traditional therapy methods in treating emotional and addictive problems. EMDR can help patients replace their anxiety and fear with positive images, emotions and thoughts.
Since its first medical study in 1989, twenty years ago, positive therapeutic results have been reported with people struggling with a chemical dependency to pain killers.

CB Therapy

The benefit of psychotherapy for managing pain helps patients to identify negative thought patterns and replace them with positive ones. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is often used as a process of managing chronic pain. It is based on the principle that a person's beliefs about pain can influence adjustment to the pain experience. CBT addresses the behavioral, emotional, sensory-physiological, cognitive, and interpersonal aspects of pain issues.
Treatment planning is comprised of the evaluation of pain intensity, beliefs, and coping strategies. Therapeutic intervention to reduce the severity of pain would be the use of relaxation techniques such as breathing exercises and positive imagery. The patient will learn to verbalize a new and healthier attitude about pain, such as positive affirmations. Through psychotherapy, the patient will learn skills such as self-monitoring, cognitive restructuring and stress reduction training.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach that tries to solve problems concerning dysfunctional emotions and behaviors through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure.
There is empirical evidence that CBT isd effective for the treatment of a variety of problems including mood, anxiety, personality, eating disorders, substance abuse and psychotic disorders. CBT is used in individual therapy as well as group settings, and the techniques are often adapted for self-help applications.
The roots of CBT can be traced to the development of behavioral therapy in the early twentieth century, the development of cognitive therapy in the 1960s, and the subsequent merging of the two techniques.