Pain Specialist

A pain specialist is a doctor who deals with pain management and chronic pain relief. This is a relatively new specialization in the healthcare profession with practitioners coming from a variety of medical backgrounds. The most common type of pain management doctor is an anesthesiologist, but many neurologists, physiatrists, and even psychiatrists choose this specialty.

Pain Specialist

Chronic Pain Specialist

Many back pain patients resort to using one of these pain management specialists after several unsuccessful attempts at curing their back pain. It is very common for a patient to try traditional medical care first, then alternative care, then return to the last resort of medical pain management when all else fails. Once involved in a pain control program, the patient has a slim chance at actually curing their symptomatic condition.

Pain Specialist Treatment

The most common form of treatment is pain relief drugs. These can be injected or taken orally. Many drugs are actually anesthetics that have long term effects on nerves and other affected structures. All these drugs have health risks and some are very addictive. Some pain doctors also use alternative techniques such as electrotherapy. If you have a choice, try to stick to treatments that will not cause more harm than good�

Treatment programs used by pain management doctors are almost always symptomatic treatment routines. This means that the treatment reduces the severity of the symptoms but does nothing to cure the underlying causative condition. This type of therapy is great and humanitarian for patients with untreatable physical pain conditions. However, this situation is the minority of all pain management patients. Most are either psychosomatic pain sufferers who have been misdiagnosed or patients who have simply given up on a cure and will settle for the numbing effects of these powerful pain relief drugs. Many of the latter have become addicted to the pain drugs and will do anything to stay in treatment. Their addiction has actually replaced the pain as their primary healthcare motivation. It is a shame�

Recommendation on Pain Specialists

I have mixed feelings about this particular sub-specialty of medicine. On one hand, these practitioners DO provide a humanitarian service to many suffering patients. Back pain relief is better than continual suffering, if the condition can not be cured. On the other hand, these doctors have elevated PAIN to a condition unto itself. Pain is not a disease. Pain is a symptom. Pain is ALWAYS the result of some other physical or psychological process. Ignoring this causative process is bad science and does nothing to truly help the patient long term.

If you are in the minority of patients with long term pain from a physical injury or disease, then this type of doctor may be for you. If there is any hope that your condition can be truly cured, avoid pain management and work towards a real cure. A cure equates to freedom while pain management is utter dependence. Life is too short and too sweet to become a pharmaceutical slave�

Pain Specialist to Back Pain Home page 2/15/07 Revised 6/12/08