pain doctor mn

Pain Care: The Benefits of Pain Management

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

Pain Care BenefitsPain is a complex problem with physical and emotional components. It can affect all aspects of a person’s life. When pain is treated early and aggressively, often it can be cured. Sometimes the injury that has caused the pain cannot be completely reversed and the damage needs to be managed on a long-term basis. Medically, we are always looking to find a diagnosis and treatment for every problem. Pain Care is aimed at finding the individualized, comprehensive diagnosis and management plan for a patient’s symptoms and problems.

Pain Care

Pain Care has been developed to take the next step in managing a patient’s symptoms. A new patient will undergo a comprehensive evaluation by a Board Certified specialist in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation with a subspecialty in Pain Care. These physicians are medical doctors with extensive special training in the musculoskeletal, medical and neurologic systems, which allows them to better diagnose and treat almost any painful condition.  As Physical Medicine doctors, they are the “Family “ physicians coordinating and delivering care to those with pain.

Since pain often is a complex problem, Pain Care is designed to help the patient move forward with management. Every patient is unique with their own set of important problems. If all the answers were obvious, there would be no need for our services. Unfortunately, pain is the most common problem bringing a patient to the doctor’s office. When it does not resolve in short period of time, consulting a specialist is often extremely beneficial. There is not one solution, one medication, one shot, or one specific intervention that is right for every patient. Pain Care is designed to integrate and coordinate our skills into the community to treat these challenging patients with their current care team.

Pain management is not a new medical field, however there are not many providers with the Physical Medicine and Pain specialty skills. Pain is complex and Pain Care is designed to address these issues and bring a solution to the patient and community.

Hands and Head Most Sensitive to Pain 

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

Hand PainA recent study by researchers in the United Kingdom found that a person’s forehead and fingertips were the parts of the body most sensitive to pain.

Researchers believe their findings could help better understand the progression or regression of chronic pain or other pain related conditions. They said their findings have the potential to help millions.

“This measure tells us how precisely people can locate the source of pain on different parts of their body,” said senior author Dr. Giandomenico Iannetti of the UCL department of neuroscience, physiology and pharmacology. “Touch and pain are mediated by different sensory systems.

Laser Study

To better understand how individuals sense pain, researchers blindfolded 26 individuals and used a pair of lasers to simulate a pinprick sensation on various parts of their bodies. Researchers would either use one or both lasers, and they asked participants whether they felt one or two pinpricks. By blindfolding the participants and causing the pain without touch, researchers were better able to track what they call “spatial acuity.”

“This method offers an exciting, non-invasive way to test the state of pain networks across the body,” said Dr. Roman Cregg, clinical expert on chronic pain.

After analyzing the data, researchers found that touch acuity is best at a person’s extremities and forehead. Cregg concluded that the study offers a deeper understanding of the nerves and sensory systems in our bodies.

“Chronic pain is often caused by damaged nerves, but this is incredibly difficult to monitor and treat. The laser method may enable us to monitor nerve damage across the body, offering a quantitative way to see if a condition is getting better or worse”.

Related source: The Guardian