What Is Pain Management/Treatments For Pain?:

What Is Pain Management/Treatments For Pain?: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_medicine

Pain management (also called pain medicine) is the discipline concerned with the relief of pain.

Acute pain, such as occurs with trauma, often has a reversible cause and may require only transient measures and correction of the underlying problem.

In contrast, chronic pain often results from conditions that are difficult to diagnose and treat, and that may take a long time to reverse. Some examples include cancer, neuropathy, and referred pain.

Often, pain pathways are set up that continue to transmit the sensation of pain even though the underlying condition or injury that originally caused pain has been healed.

In such situations, the pain itself is frequently managed separately from the underlying condition of which it is a symptom, or the goal of treatment is to manage the pain with no treatment of any underlying condition (e.g. if the underlying condition has resolved or if no identifiable source of the pain can be found).

Pain management generally benefits from a multidisciplinary approach that includes pharmacologic measures (analgesics such as narcotics or NSAIDs and pain modifiers such as tricyclic antidepressants or anticonvulsants), non-pharmacologic measures (such as interventional procedures, physical therapy and physical exercise, application of ice and/or heat), and psychological measures (such as biofeedback and cognitive therapy).

Pain management practitioners come from all fields of medicine.

Most often, pain fellowship trained physicians are anesthesiologists, neurologists, physiatrists or psychiatrists.

Some practitioners focus more on the pharmacologic management of the patient, while others are very proficient at the interventional management of pain.

Interventional procedures - typically used for chronic back pain - include: epidural steroid injections, facet joint injections, neurolytic blocks, Spinal Cord Stimulators and intrathecal drug delivery system implants, etc.

Over the last several years the number of interventional procedures done for pain has grown to a very large number.

As well as medical practitioners, the area of pain management may often benefit from the input of Specialist Nurses, Physiotherapists, Clinical Psychologists & Occupational therapists, amongst others.

Together the multidisciplinary team can help create a package of care suitable to the patient.

What Is Pain Management/Treatments For Pain?: www.bath.ac.uk/pain-management

UK-Bath Pain Management Unit: www.bath.ac.uk/pain-management

Background To The Uk-Bath Pain Management Unit: www.bath.ac.uk/pain-management

In 1994 The Royal National Hospital For Rheumatic Diseases set up The Pain Management Unit to provide intensive programmes for adults with Chronic Pain.

In 1999 the first Pain Management Programme for adolescents in Europe began.

In 2006 we launched our young adults programme.

UK-Bath Pain Management Unit: www.bath.ac.uk/pain-management

What Is Pain Management/Treatments For Pain?: www.rnhrd.nhs.uk/departments/pain_manage.../pain_management.htm

About The Bath Pain Management Unit: www.rnhrd.nhs.uk/departments/pain_manage.../pain_management.htm

The Bath Pain Management Unit was established in 1994 to provide intensive rehabilitation programmes for adults with chronic pain, and to research and develop effective chronic pain treatments.

In 1999 the unit launched the first: www.rnhrd.nhs.uk/departments/pain_manage...nagement_service.htm adolescent pain management programme in the whole of Europe.

The unit has both a national and an international reputation for its clinical services and research.

Our programmes aim to enhance daily functioning; allowing individual’s to return to activities that are important to them.

We are an interdisciplinary team made up of Clinical Psychologists, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Nurse Specialists and Consultant / Specialist Registrars.

Our treatments are group based and we run both residential and outpatient programmes.

Residential programmes range from 3 to 4 weeks in length, while outpatient groups run twice a week for 6 weeks.

The service is diagnostically non-specific.

Accordingly, our assessment criteria are only that an individual’s pain should be persistent, disabling and unresponsive to other therapies.

The unit is a national service, and accepts referrals from throughout the UK.

Referrals generally come from general practitioners (GPs) or other NHS / private medical consultants.

Unfortunately we cannot accept self-referrals.

What Is Pain Management/Treatments For Pain?: www.rnhrd.nhs.uk/departments/pain_manage.../pain_management.htm

About The Bath Pain Management Unit: www.rnhrd.nhs.uk/departments/pain_manage.../pain_management.htm

What Is Pain Management/Treatments For Pain?: www.rnhrd.nhs.uk/departments/rheumatolog...al_pain_syndrome.htm

The CRPS programme was the recipient of the Abbot BSR Innovations in Rheumatology award 2005: www.rnhrd.nhs.uk/departments/rheumatolog...al_pain_syndrome.htm

This multi-disciplinary inpatient and outpatient service accepts national referrals from medical personnel for those adults suffering with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.

The emphasis is on physical rehabilitation and all patients will initially be assessed as an outpatient by the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) prior to consideration for inpatient care.

Inpatient care involves a two week stay which will include a full MDT assessment, patient centred goal setting, concentrated physical rehabilitation and information on the condition.

Where relevant and available ongoing care will be discussed with the patient’s local MDT with expert support from the RNHRD CRPS team.

Research is integrally involved in this programme and patients will be invited to complete questionnaires to assess various aspects of their condition and how it affects their lives and the impact of treatments.

Novel therapeutic techniques are also used including mirror visual feedback.

Integrated Care Pathways: www.rnhrd.nhs.uk/departments/rheumatolog...al_pain_syndrome.htm

The CRPS integrated care pathway maps the journey of the patient and provides a detailed overview of all clinical processes.

The ICP ensure that high quality, evidenced based care is delivered in a consistent manner by all members of the multi-disciplinary team from referral to either ongoing care in the patient’s local communities or to discharge.

Who to contact for information
Dr Candy McCabe: Candy.mccabe@rnhrd-tr.swest.nhs.uk
Phone number: 01225 787047

Current Research: www.rnhrd.nhs.uk/departments/rheumatolog...al_pain_syndrome.htm

We are a multi-disciplinary research active group. Our specialist areas of interest are the mechanisms behind CRPS, the patient’s experience of living with the condition and novel therapeutic interventions.

We are supported by an ‘in-house’ clinical measurement laboratory which enables assessment of autonomic responses to interventions and altered condition states.

We collaborate with national and international experts in the field and communicate via research and clinical networks with other specialist centres across the UK.

We work closely with RSD-UK the national patient charity: RSD-CRPS-Uk: www.rsd-crps.co.uk

Major Announcements: RSD-Uk TO CLOSE: www.rsd-crps.co.uk/RSDUKClosure3.pdf

We collect data on clinical and research aspects of CRPS.

We always welcome those interested in a visit or secondment to our team.

What Is Pain Management/Treatments For Pain?: www.rnhrd.nhs.uk/departments/rheumatolog...al_pain_syndrome.htm

The CRPS programme was the recipient of the Abbot BSR Innovations in Rheumatology award 2005: www.rnhrd.nhs.uk/departments/rheumatolog...al_pain_syndrome.htm

What Is Pain Management/Treatments For Pain?: Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Hospital: www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/services/acut...tive/pain/input.aspx

Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Hospital: INPUT programme for pain management: www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/services/acut...tive/pain/input.aspx

Established over 16 years ago, INPUT is the UK's pre-eminent cognitive behavioural pain management programme.

The unit offers a number of different treatment programmes for sufferers with severe intractable pain where distress and disability is prominent and symptoms have not resolved through medical or surgical treatment.

Referral criteria:

Referral criteria for INPUT Pain Management:

Programmes are:

*Pain longer than one year

*No further pain interventions planned

*Pain having a significant impact on patient’s quality of life

*Ability to function within a group setting

*A basic standard of reading and writing

Exclusion factors are:

*Active psychosis

*Actively suicidal

*No alcohol or illicit drug misuse

*Cognitive impairment

*High physical care needs that require nursing care (Work up will be available for patients who are less confident in their abilities to self-care)

*Inability to speak English

Referral has to be made either by a General Practitioner (GP) or Consultant attached to an NHS Hospital.

Please send all Referrals to:

Pain Management
St Thomas' Hospital
Lambeth Palace Road
London SE1 7EH

Or fax referrals to 020 7188 4719

www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/services/acut...ative/pain/pain.aspx

www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/services/acut.../pain/inpatient.aspx

What Is Pain Management/Treatments For Pain?: www.painmanagement.org.uk

The subject of chronic pain management is vast: www.painmanagement.org.uk

It is also common for patients to have more than one pain and so several areas covered may be relevant to an individual.

Please note that there is a recurring theme in the treatment of pain that can be divided into the three broad categories:

*1. Pharmacological (drugs e.g. paracetamol)

*2. Physical (e.g. physiotherapy)

*3. Psychological.

The most important thing to remember is that each patient’s treatment is individualised..

pain is a 'subjective' sensation.

What works for one person may not necessarily work for the next even though the diagnosis is the same.