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Four Things Your Chronic Pain Specialist Wants From You

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

doctor listeningWe have a pretty good idea of what patients are looking for in a pain management specialist. You want someone who is a good listener, someone who gives you their complete attention and someone who is willing to try different techniques if the first treatment doesn’t solve your chronic pain. But in order for chronic pain treatment to have the best chance at being successful, it’s not just about finding the right provider. The patient plays a key role as well.

Because of this, doctors are also hopeful that patients will have certain qualities throughout their time working with the physician. In today’s blog, we take a look at four things that your chronic pain specialist wants from you.

What Your Doc Wants From You

We know what you’re looking for in a physician, but here’s a look at four qualities we hope to find in a patient who has come to our office looking for help with a chronic pain condition.

1. Effective Communicator – We love it when patients can be clear and concise about the issues they are facing. Be vividly descriptive about your condition. Don’t just tell us that you have lower back pain, show us where it’s located, describe what your pain feels like (shooting, dull, pins-and-needle-like, etc.) and tell us what activities make pain worse or better. The more we know about your pain, the easier it will be to develop an individualized treatment plan for you.

2. Strong Work Ethic – One of the least favorite patients of any chronic pain specialist is the one who only wants to pursue passive treatments. They want to rest or take a pill and magically find relief. As we’ve said on this blog time and time again, rest and pain medications can absolutely be an integral part of a pain management plan, but they aren’t good standalone options. We want someone who is going to really throw themselves into a physical therapy program or commit to lifestyle changes to address their pain condition, even if they won’t be easy.

3. Don’t Give Up Easily – Winning out over your chronic pain condition isn’t going to be easy, but we’re in it for the long haul, and we hope you will be too. We may have to change strategies, try different approaches or see each other a few times over the course of many months. It’s going to be worth it in the end, but when it comes to chronic pain, there’s rarely an easy and straightforward solution, so we want patients that don’t give up when things get tough.

4. Rule Follower – Finally, the ideal patient will be a good listener and great follower of directions. If we tell you to do some moderate intensity exercises a few times a week, or we advise against certain activities, we expect you to follow through on your end because this is all part of your treatment plan. If you only attend some of your physical therapy sessions or you don’t work to improve your sleeping habits like advised, don’t be surprised if symptoms linger. We can’t be with you 24/7, so we need to have confidence that you’ll follow our advice when you’re not at the clinic.

If you have all of these qualities, or if you’re just struggling to get control over your chronic pain condition, we hope you’ll reach out to Dr. Cohn for assistance. Give our team a call today at (952) 738-4580.

Why The Right Chronic Pain Specialist Makes All The Difference

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

doctor chronic painChronic pain is a condition that affects tens of millions of people worldwide, and it’s one of the most difficult conditions to treat because of its complexity. In order to give yourself the best chance to reduce symptoms or successfully treat the underlying issues, you need a couple of things.

Not only do you need a positive mindset and a strong work ethic to follow through on your treatment recommendations, but you also need the right chronic pain specialist. In today’s blog, we explain why having the right chronic pain specialist by your side will make all the difference in your treatment for a pain condition.

Why You Need A Pain Doctor Who Cares

Finding a pain specialist who truly understands what you’re going through can make a world of difference. For starters, they’ll work to create a full work-up and a comprehensive diagnosis. Oftentimes a chronic pain condition is more than just a physical condition, so it’s important to have a specialist who can see how you’re being physically, mentally, emotionally and socially affected by the condition. Treatment will need to be multi-faceted in order to achieve best results and care for all aspects of your condition, so you’ll want a specialist who is willing to go the extra mile to understand all aspects of your pain.

You also need to find a pain specialist who wants to treat the underlying condition that’s causing your chronic pain, not just someone who works to mitigate symptoms. We understand that reducing symptoms can make life more bearable, but it’s kind of like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. It won’t provide any long-term relief, and it may actually make it harder to treat your condition in the future if it continues to worsen or you begin to build up a tolerance to painkillers. It’s easy to prescribe opioids for a chronic pain condition. It’s hard to find the right active solutions. Find a doctor who is willing to do the hard work, because you’ll be better off for it.

A doctor who truly cares about your needs will also be a good listener and willing to adjust their recommendations based on your progress or lack thereof. Some doctors believe that their original diagnosis and treatment are best, even in the face of poor results. You need a doctor who is willing to listen to your concerns and pivot to new treatment options if something isn’t working. It sounds simple, but it’s not something you’ll find at every clinic.

Finally, it’s important to find a doctor who specializes in chronic pain care because they will have a wealth of experience dealing with the complex issues presented by your condition. While no two cases are ever the same, having extensive background with difficult-to-treat pain conditions can help you get a leg up on what’s bothering you. Some doctors do everything they can to help, but they simply lack the depth of experience to provide you with the level of care you need. A pain management specialist can give you that expert level of care that can make all the difference with your treatment.

If you’re looking for a provider who can check all of the above boxes, look no further than Dr. Cohn. He’ll do everything in his power to provide you with the individualized care you need to overcome your chronic pain condition. He’s done it for countless patients in the past, and he can do the same for you. For more information, or for help with your chronic pain issue, reach out to his office today.

5 Things Your Pain Specialist Wants You To Know

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

doctor knowManaging a chronic pain condition is easier if you come in the with right mindset and expectations, and as a pain care provider, we want to help set these expectations so that the process is a little easier on you. With that in mind, we’ve decided to share a few things about your pain journey that we believe will help you along the way. In today’s blog, we share five things your pain care team wants you to know to help make your path to recovery easier.

What Your Doc Wants You To Know

Pain is unique to the individual, but with that said, knowing these five things about your pain treatment plan can help increase your likelihood of finding success with your rehabilitation. Here’s what we want you to know.

1. It Will Take Time – There’s no magic pill to help completely take care of your chronic pain issue, so you need to come in with the expectation that treatment will take some time. Your condition likely didn’t just develop overnight, so it’s unreasonable to expect it to resolve in that way. Putting in the time and sticking with your treatment plan can help you live a pain free life down the road, which is something we all want.

2. It Will Take Work – Similarly, your pain condition isn’t just going to go away by laying in bed. Physical therapy and functional rehabilitation takes work. We’ll be with you every step of the way, and at times you probably won’t like us, but you’ll appreciate the work you put in when all is said and done.

3. Treatment May Be Multifaceted – As we’ve talked about on the blog in the past, chronic pain is often more than just a physical problem. There may be emotional, behavioral or psychological components to the physical manifestation of your pain. Treatment may need to involve more than just physical exercises, because other factors could be contributing to your issues. We’ll help diagnose those underlying factors and help you get the care you need.

4. It Will Get Better – We know better than to guarantee results, especially with a condition as complex as chronic pain, but we do believe that we can confidently say that if you put in the work, follow your doctor’s instructions and are patient, your pain condition will get better. You may not experience total pain relief, but we absolutely believe that we can help make your symptoms and pain more manageable. Trust us when we say that it will get better.

5. It’ll Be Worth It – Connecting with a physical therapist, putting in the work and being patient may seem like a tall task, but know that it will all be worth it in the end. You don’t deserve to live with daily pain, and you owe it to yourself to do what you can to take control over your pain condition. We promise you that the work you put in will be worth it, so while starting your journey to recovery may seem daunting, you’ll be better off because of it.

For more information, or for help with your pain condition, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his talented pain care team today.

What Pain Patients Want From Their Doctors

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

opioids doctor

Last weekend in the StarTribune there was an editorial on opioids and pain from a neurologist and Chief Medical Officer Regions Hospital. It seemed a bit self-congratulatory about how great he is doing at reducing opioids and how unnecessary they are in most pain situations. It is great to talk about not using opioid medications especially for chronic pain, however if the main job one has is to be a pain medicine specialist, a better understanding of pain and its impact on an individual’s life is needed.

The article brags how many fewer opioid prescriptions have been written by HealthPartners clinics. By the sounds of it, no one was educated on treating pain and way too many scripts were being written. Physician education on management strategies for pain is woeful and minimal time in medical school and residency is spent on training physicians about pain. The best strategy to prevent chronic pain is to aggressively treat acute pain and prevent chronic symptoms from developing. Use a comprehensive strategy early and reduce the impact of pain. Opioids are just one of many tools to treat symptoms, and many better tools are available and should be employed.

Nobody enjoys having pain. Convincing someone that pain is normal is one of the worst strategies to reduce opioid use and abuse. Patients with pain do not want to be told pain is normal, they want their physicians to help determine what is wrong and find good ways to reduce symptoms to a manageable level. Telling a patient pain is normal just informs the patient as a physician you do not care what is wrong and whatever you tell the patient next, they already have the expectation that you have only your own agenda and not their interest first.

Reading the editorial as a pain physician, it was maddening to see the lack of knowledge with regards to how patients feel about their medical problems. Almost everyone knows about the opioid epidemic, but when one has pain, they want compassion, respect and help with understanding their problem finding solutions. They do not want to hear about opioid problems. They want a physician that will help lead them to answers, listen to what they are saying and give them a pathway to improvement. The expectation is that physicians have answers beyond opioids these days, and from a patient’s perspective, bragging about your reduction of the use of these medications is snobbery. Solve the patient’s problem and be empathetic. As a medical big wig, tell your insurance company to pay for proven alternative solutions and give the clinical doctor the ability to use all the tools necessary to help their patients without fighting your bureaucracy.