Understanding Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is our nation’s third most prevalent health problem, costing our society 75 billion dollars a year in medical treatment and lost wages alone.

In the past, chronic pain was the most under treated health problem in our nation. This is because pain has always been regarded as a symptom of a disease rather than understood as a unique disease itself.

Today it is well known and accepted that chronic pain is not merely a condition that has lasted a long time, it is a complex syndrome of which pain is but one part. Other symptoms of chronic pain syndrome include, anxiety, depression, sleep disruption, low self esteem and anger.

What kind of Pain Do We Treat?

We at Pain Institute of North Florida, P.A. treat all different kinds of pain. The following are some examples of the more common ones:

• Back Pain
• Lumbar strain, herniated discs, spinal stenosis and failed back
• Headache
• Tension headache, spinal headache, migraine headache, occipital neuralgia.
• Myofascial Pain
• Including fibromyalgia and whiplash.
• Neuropathy
• Whether from kidney disease, diabetes, or from some other cause.
• Cancer Pain
• During treatment and in the cause of terminal condition, designed to make the patient as comfortable as possible.
• Phantom Limb Pain
• The pain caused by amputation even long after the surgery.
• Central Pain
• Post stroke pain.
• Herpes Zoster
• Shingles and herpetic neuralgia.
• Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD)
• CRPS 1 and CRPS 2

A Multidisciplinary Approach

Because chronic pain is such a complicated syndrome, Pain Institute of North Florida has adopted a multidisciplinary approach to solving the problem. This means that our patients have access to a wide range of treatment opportunities that are designed to treat the pain as well as the cause of pain.

Individual treatment plans include physical therapy, manual modalities, injection therapy, including steroid injections, nerve blocks and trigger point injections. Interventional pain management, such as, spinal cord stimulation (SCS), cryoblation and radiofrequency lesioning. Leading-edge techniques such as minimally invasive disc decompression, IDET and lysis of scar tissue are offered.

When indicated, Pain Institute of North Florida makes referrals to orthopedic surgeons, general surgeons, and neurosurgeons ensuring our patients the best possible care.

Procedures