Conditions We Treat

During the past decade there has been great progress made in both the understanding and the treatment of pain. We strive to treat a multitude of acute and chronic pain conditions by applying a multidisciplinary approach incorporating interventional, physical, pharmacological and psychological methods. Our staff of experts applies the latest technology for diagnosis and treatment after a careful evaluation.

In addition to the multitude of conditions we treat, we also specialize in treating work and sports related injuries with the goal of getting people back to work or their sport as quickly as possible.

Understanding how to treat painful conditions starts with a thorough understanding of pain. Pain is the body’s way of letting us know something might be amiss and the body might be in danger. It is an individual response meaning that each person’s pain sensation in response to a particular stimulus is most likely very different from each other person’s experience.

Anatomy of Pain

The nervous system is responsible for the communication between the body and the brain. The nervous system has several distinctions, the primary one distinguishes between the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The CNS contains the brain and the spinal cord. The PNS contains all the nerves that travel to and from the spinal cord to the rest of the body. Nerves can be either sensory or motor or both.

Sensory neurons receive information from the body such as ‘touching a hot burner’ and send it along to the brain through the spinal cord. After the brain receives the information and processes it ‘skin touching heat source with potential for damage to skin’ and determines the appropriate response, it will send a message back via a motor neuron, which will instruct and assist the person in removing their hand from the hot burner. So sensory neurons are responsible for what we sense through touch, smell, sight, sound, and position and vibration and motor neurons are responsible for reacting to sensations by triggering an action.

The receptors for pain are called nociceptors, which are simply the branching ends of certain sensory neurons. Pain receptors are found in almost every tissue of the body and may respond to any type of stimulus. Again the purpose of pain is to protect the body.

Pain Specifics

Pain itself can be classified in several ways. The first classification has to do with the duration and onset of the pain as follows:

Acute Pain is pain typically of sudden onset that generally lasts a short period and is usually localized (contained in a particular, identifiable area confined to the site of origin).
Chronic Pain is pain that persists or recurs for indefinite periods, usually for longer than 3 months and has an obscure onset. Chronic pain is usually diffuse and poorly localized making diagnosis of the underlying cause and treatment a little more difficult.

Pain can further be classified into

Nociceptive Pain is related to injury, inflammation or disease involving muscle and bone tissue. Typically this type of pain is described as "sharp", “aching”, “sore”, or “knot-like” if it involves a muscle and “achy” and “uncomfortable” like a “rusty hinge” when associated with a bone.
Neuropathic Pain is associated with pain as a result of injury to a nerve. Sensations of this type of pain can be described as a “electric-like”, “burning” and “knifelike”.
Referred Pain is pain felt in one area of the body but the source of the pain exists in another area of the body. An example of this is when someone has leg or arm pain due to a herniated disc in the back or neck.
Visceral Pain is pain associated with an internal organ as would be the case with kidney stones or inflamed gall bladder.
Intractable Pain is pain that is resistant to treatment.

Treatment of pain is different depending upon whether it is chronic or acute and based on the underlying cause. When seeking treatment for pain be prepared to answer the following questions:

When did your pain start?
How did the pain start? This is description of the onset such as sudden, gradual, injury, etc. How does the pain feel? Describe the sensation. Is it constant, burning, aching, sharp, dull, electric-like, shooting, or nagging?
What makes your pain better? Does it feel better when you take iburprofen, put heat on it, put ice on it, when you stand, etc.?
What makes your pain worse? Does it get worse when you lift your arm, put pressure on your leg, lie down, stand up, walk, etc.?
Are there any associated problems with bowel or bladder control, or numbness, tingling, weakness, swelling, etc.?

Clear responses to the above questions can help determine the effectiveness of treatment.

Please explore the various conditions we treat here at ISM.


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