Mankind has undoubtly experienced pain from the beginning of time and attempts at its relief has been found throughout the history. But in spite of extensive advancement of medical science, still we are failed to give proper pain management especially for chronic pains.
What is pain?Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.On the other way we cansay “Human body functions as a simple machine with pain being the result of its malfunction.”
Pain basically is of two types of pain: Acute & Chronic pain. Acute pain is due to trauma, some disease processes or invasive interventions or surgery, whereas chronic painextends beyond the expected period of healing. There are several types of chronic pain: back pain, neck pain, knee pain, muscular pain, headache, neuropathic pain (trigeminal neuralgia, herpes pain), vascular pain, cancer pain,etc.
Chronic pain is a vast subject to cover in one session. So I will try to give you a brief idea about one chronic pain in every session.
It is a well-known fact that 70-80% population suffers back or neck pain in some or other formduring their life time. Out of them 90% people who experience for the first time get better in two to six weeks. 20-30% people develop chronic problems. Common causes are sprain or strain, spondylitis, slipped disc or disc herniation, osteoporosis & fracture of spine, Sacroiliac pain, tail bone pain, failed back surgery, etc.Risk Factors are bad posture, heavy exercise, sedentary life, overweight,pregnancy, chronic smoking, driving for long duration, stress and strain, repetitive work (Athletes).Consult Doctor if, conservative treatment (rest, analgesics, relaxant) fails or pain comes back again, or If pain is with numbness or tingling in arms or legs Pain gets worse on prolonged sitting, standing or walking.
Whether Surgery is successful or not?Outcome studies of lumber or cervical disc surgeries document a success rate between 49% to 95%andre-surgery after lumber disc surgeries ranging from 4% to 40% (Failed Back Surgery Syndrome).
That’s why after lots of research and evidences Interventional Pain Therapy came out to support non-surgically.It is a discipline of medicine devoted to the diagnosis and the treatment of pain related disorders through minimally invasive techniques under radiological guidance to help the patients to return to their day-to-day activities quickly without heavy reliance on medications. This specialty has recently emerged as a rapidly developing specialty in our country, though it has shown its presence in USA and UK for over 30 years.
Dr Shantanu Mallick
Pain Physician
Navi Mumbai
drmallick@rediffmail.com
