Is Your Painful Condition Treatable? What Being Injured Means for Your Long-Term Health

No matter what type of injury you have, mild to chronic pain can accompany it. Finding the best treatments, medications, and doctors to ease your pain is necessary in order to go about your daily life. Determining the proper care and course of action to take is one of the most important decisions to make on your road to recovery. Finding the right provider can take time. One that will accept your insurance (whether it be an auto insurance claim, KAC, or a lien from an attorney), accommodate your needs and provide you with fast, effective care to help you treat your condition. Kentucky Pain Associates provides a variety of top quality care treatment options to treat a range of painful conditions due to automobile accidents and can potentially help in the referral process to our chronic pain office, in some cases, with documented radiology that warrants why it is needed. First, you must determine your type of pain and then find the best treatment option for your pain type. After receiving your treatment, it is essential to see a pain specialist on a long-term basis to prevent future flare-ups and record recovery progress.

Types of Long-Term Pain

Acute (Mild) /Moderate Pain

• Usually treatable through OTC medications such as Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs), Acetaminophen, COX-2 Inhibitors, Antidepressants/Anti-Seizure Medications, etc.
• A predictable, short-term response to trauma, injury, or surgery
• Lasts for a period of days up to 3 months

Chronic Pain

• Pain that extends past a 3-month span, or more, and usually has a complicated treatment story
• 100 million people deal with daily
• Limits mobility to exercise, work, and perform daily functions such as sitting/standing
• 25% of patients with chronic pain develop Chronic Pain Syndrome (CPS) which affects other aspects of the body and psyche such as depression and anxiety

Treatments for Acute to Chronic Pain

We know how uncomfortable living with pain of any kind can be. People struggle with finding the best type of treatment for their degree of pain. Kentucky Pain Associates can help. We offer a variety of treatments that range from coverage of acute pain to chronic pain caused by automobile injuries. While medication has been an effective way to relieve chronic pain symptoms for many decades, new research shows that medication such as opioids are not the only options patients should seek.

Sean Mackey, MD, Ph.D., chief of the pain management division at Stanford Systems Neuroscience and Pain Lab at Stanford University put this theory as, “opioids are just one tool in the toolbox.” He listed a total of 6 major treatments to relieve pain:

• Complementary Alternative Medicine (acupuncture)
• Interventional Procedures (nerve blocks, injections, etc.)
• Rehabilitative and Occupational Therapy
• Self-management (diet and exercise)
• Pain Psychology
• Medications (opioids and non-opioids)

Due to the emergence and prevalence of opioid overdose and death rates, providers have slowly started to look for other forms of treatment for their patients to decrease the effects of the epidemic. Instead, KPA offers these treatments:

For Injury Pain:

• Medical Evaluations
• Medications prescribed as needed
• Trigger point injection therapy as needed (see description below)
• Referrals to specialists as requested by referral sources

For Other Pain Types:

• Pain management procedures: cervical and lumbar epidurals, various nerve blocks, occipital nerve blocks (for headaches), joint injections, radiofrequency ablation, etc
• C-Arm to provide fluoroscopic guidance to help perform the following Chronic Pain Procedures: Trigger Point Injections (this can also be done without use of C-Arm) Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injections, Lumbar Transforaminal Epidural Steroid Injection, Cervical Epidural Steroid Injection, Medial Branch Block, Sacroiliac Joint Steroid Injection, Cervical Facet Radiofrequency Ablation, and Lumbar Facet Radiofrequency Ablation.

For more information on the injuries or conditions that we treat at KPA, visit our website. Our goal is to make your daily activities of life achievable again after an injury, surgery, or trauma. Do not let your pain take away from your life any longer. Find the treatment you need for your pain, and let KPA guide you in your journey.

Contact us now to share your story and begin the process of healing today.