Chronic pain affects more than 50 million people in the US alone, and yet it doesn’t seem to be an issue that is getting the attention it deserves. We need to be doing more for the millions of people who battle a chronic pain diagnosis on a daily basis, but how can we provide better care?

We don’t pretend to have all the answers, but we’re going to use today’s blog to talk about some of the ways that pain care in America and across the globe could be improved.

Solving Chronic Pain On An Individual Level

Let’s first look at the problem on a local level. What can a pain care physician do to help solve chronic pain? They need to focus on what they can do to provide the best level of care to the patients they are seeing in their office. This involves:

Taking the time to listen – Everyone’s pain is different, and there are no one-size-fits-all solutions to chronic pain. Doctors need to take the time to really get to know their patients and their condition so that they can help them find a treatment that works for them.

Don’t go for the quick short-term fix – Opioids can help mask the symptoms of chronic pain, but they won’t treat the underlying issue. As we’ve said on the blog countless times in the past, prescription medications can play a pivotal role in a comprehensive treatment plan, but they should not be the only form of treatment. Doctors should not rush to medicate without pursuing more active treatment methods.

Be ready to pivot – If one treatment isn’t working, it means that doctors need to be ready to pivot to another treatment. As we’ve mentioned, pain is highly individualized, so what works for one person isn’t guaranteed to work for another, and providers need to be flexible in their approach.

Continue to learn – Pain care is always evolving, and pain physicians need to keep furthering their understanding of chronic pain and how to best treat difficult cases. Doctors need to continue to seek out highly credible research in order to provide patients with the highest level of care.

Solving Chronic Pain On A Global Level

Solving chronic pain on a global level will take a more concentrated effort. Obviously there is no simple solution, but there are two main areas we should be focusing on. For starters, chronic pain prevalence needs to become more mainstream. Roughly one in five Americans deal with a chronic pain condition, so odds are a number of your family and friends are fighting an invisible fight each and every day, and many of them aren’t talking about it. We need to combat the stigma of chronic pain and find ways to talk about it so that more people are willing to take the necessary steps to treat their issue head on. Chronic pain patients shouldn’t have to live in the shadows, hiding their pain from those around them.

The other main way to work towards an effective solution to chronic pain is to increase funding for research. As we mentioned above, 50 million Americans battle a chronic pain condition on a regular basis, so there is clearly an audience ready to jump towards more effective treatments. We just need to find them, and the best way to do that is to invest in research programs dedicated to better understanding chronic pain.

If you want to speak to a pain management specialist who will work hard to accomplish those individual tasks and champion the idea of tackling chronic pain on a larger scale, trust your care to Dr. Cohn and his team. For more information or to set up an appointment, give his office a call today at (952) 738-4580.