3 Tips for Not Letting Pain Define You

December 30, 2015/1 Comment/in Pain /by Matthew Thorson

Chronic pain sufferers know how easy it is to give into the pain. For many people, their pain becomes their defining feature. In this article, we are going to offer a few tips you can follow to not let your pain define you and rule your life.

1. Find a Doctor

If you are in pain, the first thing you should do is find a Minnesota pain management physician who understands the breadth and depth of your situation. Most pain conditions and injuries, especially those that are chronic in nature, are complicated and require a strategic approach to ongoing treatment. You need to have a doctor who is willing to partner with you in this treatment plan. It needs to be an experienced physician you trust.

2. Follow Your Treatment Plan

Once you have a pain management doctor that you trust and a treatment plan, be sure to follow that plan to the letter. If you have prescription medications, take them according to your schedule. If you need physical therapy, chiropractic, or injection therapy – make sure you’re showing up for your appointments. If your efforts are lax in these areas, your doctor can’t effectively treat you.

3. Don’t Shut out the World

It’s easy to shut out the world when you’re in pain, but this can have a negative impact on your mental and emotional health. Even if it hurts, force yourself to see family and friends, or even something as simple as going outside for a walk once a day. This sort of physical activity and interpersonal interaction can do wonders for your mental and physical health.

If you have any questions about these tips, or if you’re looking for a pain physician to partner with, contact Advanced Spine & Pain Clinics of MN to set up your appointment.

Causes of Pain and Numbness

December 28, 2015/0 Comments/in Pain /by Matthew Thorson

Numbness in the body can be caused by injuries, conditions, and even treatments used to combat pain. In this article, we will discuss various conditions, injuries, and treatments that can cause numbness, and when to seek medical attention.

Pain Conditions that Cause Numbness

Most instances of numbness in the body are the result of nerve issues. Our nerves transmit signals from the brain to all the areas of our body. These signals allow us to move our body and feel pain. When our nerves are compressed, impacted, or injured, these signals can be disrupted and result in a loss of feeling to certain areas of the body.

There are many pain conditions and injuries that can result in numbness. Here are a few of the most common:

Herniated or Bulging Discs in the Spine
Radiculopathy
Neuropathy
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Spinal Stenosis
Nerve Injuries

Some instances of numbness are totally normal and shouldn’t be cause for concern. If you bump your funny bone and your arm goes numb for a while, there’s not need to worry – the numbness will dissipate on its own. However, there are situations in which numbness can be a sign of a serious condition.

Pain Treatments Causing Numbness

Numbness may also be caused by certain treatment methods like pain pills, pain injections, and more. Some treatments (like corticosteroid injections) nearly always cause numbness for a time. If you are experiencing prolonged periods of numbness that interferes with your body’s mobility, make an appointment with a physician to diagnose the cause of the numbness.

If you are experiencing pain and numbness from a condition, injury, or treatment, contact your pain management specialist today. The pain physicians at Advanced Spine & Pain Clinics of MN have over 20 years of experience treating all types of pain conditions and injuries. Contact our providers today to set up your appointment and get back to living a pain free life.

Managing Pain after Surgery

December 22, 2015/0 Comments/in Surgery /by Matthew Thorson

After a surgical procedure you need to give your body the time it needs to heal itself. This can be especially difficult if you are in a lot of pain after your operation. This article will focus entirely on pain after surgery. We will discuss the various types of pain that you may experience after your procedure, and how to effectively manage that pain while you recover.

Post-Op Pain

Every surgical procedure comes with at least a small amount of pain. Surgery is technically trauma to your body – the surgeon has to cut through tissue and muscle to access the necessary bodily region. At the end of your procedure (whether it’s a spine fusion, or an ACL repair), your surgeon will sew up the surgical incisions. These surgical wounds take time to fully heal and during that time you may experience a degree of pain as you recover from your surgery.

Managing Surgical Pain

There are many methods that can be used to manage patient pain following a surgical procedure. The most common method is pain medication. When you first come out of surgery, and in the first couple days that follow, you may be prescribed a strong opioid painkiller like Oxycodone. These should only be used when the pain is most severe. As your body continues to heal and the pain dissipates, you should ween yourself off of these stronger opioid medications and on to less addictive painkillers like over the counter NSAIDs. Post-op pain can also be combated with physical therapy exercises, massage therapy, and even injection therapy in certain cases.

Minnesota Pain Management

If you are dealing with post-op pain after a surgical procedure, make an appointment with a pain specialist to discuss your options. The pain doctors at Advanced Spine & Pain Clinics of MN have been helping Minnesotans manage their pain for over 20 years. Our experts can develop a pain relief strategy that is tailored to your unique situation.

Enthesopathy – Causes, Symptoms, & Treatments

December 21, 2015/0 Comments/in Pain /by Matthew Thorson

Enthesopathy is a medical term that refers to disorders of the musculoskeletal system – specifically those that impact the attachment of ligaments and tendons to bone. This article focuses on enthesopathy. We will define what it is, describe its symptoms, and offer some possible avenues for treatment.

What is Enthesopathy?

Enthesopathy is a blanket term for a medical disorder that involves the attachment of tendons to bone. The area where a tendon attaches to bone is called an entheses (which is where the name comes from). There are many areas in the body where tendons attach to bones, and as a result, there are many regions in the body wherein a patient can develop and enthesopathic condition. Enthesopathy can spring up in the spine, knee, ankle, elbow, wrist, as well as other areas throughout the body.

Some of the common signs and symptoms of enthesopathy include:

Pain in the region
Inflammation
Function or mobility loss

Our ability to move various body parts is dependent on the tendons, ligaments, and bones of our musculoskeletal system. Enthesopathy disrupts this system and can cause a lot of problems.

Treating Enthesopathy

Treating enthesopathy depends greatly on where the condition presents in the body. Treatment options for spinal enthesopathy differ from appropriate treatments for ankle enthesopathy. So the first step in treatment is identifying the location and extent of the condition. Once that’s nailed down, your physician can offer a treatment strategy that fits your needs. Treatment options may include rest, pain medications, anti-inflammatory injections, or surgery.

If you are experiencing any of the signs and symptoms of an enthesopathic condition, contact a skilled pain management specialist as soon as possible to diagnose and treat the condition. At Advanced Spine & Pain Clinics of MN, our physicians treat patients throughout the Minneapolis / St. Paul Metro Area. With a combined 20 years of experience, our providers have the knowledge to effectively treat your pain.

3 Tips to Avoid Pain when Visiting a Foreign Country

December 16, 2015/0 Comments/in Pain /by Matthew Thorson

Suffering through pain while traveling can be a trying experience. When you’re experiencing in a foreign country it can be downright terrifying. At home you know which doctor to call and which clinic or ER to visit in your area. In a foreign country, you’re a fish out of water when it comes to medical care. In this article, we offer a few tips for dealing with pain while traveling abroad in a foreign country.

Travel Prepared

If you have an existing painful condition or injury, always be sure to travel prepared. Bring all of your necessary medications with you, and make sure you have enough to last you the length of your trip. If you’re in a foreign country and need a prescription refill, it won’t be as easy as going to your neighborhood pharmacy.

Research Emergency Locations Ahead of Time

Before your trip, do a quick search for the best and most convenient hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies near your location. When you’re in severe pain it can be extremely difficult to research and find a place to go. If you know where to go ahead of time, you won’t even need to think about it.

Talk to Your Doctor Before you Leave

If you have a chronic pain condition or are still dealing with pain from a recent injury or surgery, talk to your doctor before you travel. They will be able to give you recommendations on how to deal with your pain, refill your prescriptions if necessary, and let you know of any things you should avoid.

Traveling in pain is no fun. If you are experiencing pain and are considering a trip abroad, visit a pain management doctor before you take off. A skilled pain physician can craft a treatment strategy that will reduce your pain and make your trip much more enjoyable. Contact the Minneapolis pain physicians at Advanced Spine & Pain Clinics of MN today to set up your appointment.

Your Pain is Not Imaginary

December 14, 2015/0 Comments/in Pain /by Matthew Thorson

Everyone has a different tolerance for pain because the way our bodies interpret and perceive pain is wildly subjective. This article will focus on how the body perceives pain, and what to do if it seems like your pain is just a figment of your imagination.

The Perception of Pain

Pain is transmitted from the brain throughout the body and back via our central and peripheral nervous system. If you burn your hand on the stove, the nerves in your hand take those pain signals, and send them up your arm, to your spinal cord, and up to your brain in a fraction of a second. At that point the brain processes the signals as pain and your hand begins to hurt.

Every person experiences and interprets pain differently. Two people can suffer the same exact injury and report vastly different pain. Due to a variety of factors, different people have different pain thresholds. In short, pain is a very subjective beast.

Is my Pain all in my Head?

Patients who suffer from chronic pain (especially conditions that are difficult to treat like fibromyalgia and CRPS) may think that they are just imagining their pain. When nothing seems to help reduce the pain, this is an easy thought train to follow. The fact is that your pain is technically in your head insofar as your nerves receive signals from other parts of your body and report it as pain. But thinking that your pain is all in your head typically implies that the patient is inventing the pain, and this is not a healthy way of approaching pain. To effectively treat pain, you need to have a physician on your side that you can trust and put your confidence in.

Contact an experienced pain management specialist if you are dealing with chronic pain or think that your pain is all in your head. At Advanced Spine & Pain Clinics of MN, we treat each patient according to their unique needs. Our doctors have a combined 20+ years of experience treating Minnesotans for all types of pain conditions. Give us a call today to set up your appointment.

What Causes Sharp Pain when Breathing?

December 9, 2015/0 Comments/in Pain /by Matthew Thorson

The average adult takes 12-20 breaths per minute. Breathing is such a routine bodily function, most of the time we aren’t even conscious of each breath. But when you experience pain every time you take a breath, just getting through the day can be a nightmare. In this article, we are going to discuss the potential causes of sharp pain when you breathe, as well as some potential treatments.

Causes of Breathing Pain

The first thing to narrow down when it comes to breathing pain is where in the body the pain is coming from. The most common types of pain when breathing are:

Back & Neck Pain. This could be the result of a pinched nerve or a bulging disc in the spine.
Chest Pain. This may be indicative of an infection or injury of the lungs.
Throat Pain. This could be caused by something as simple as a sore throat, or something more severe like tonsillitis.

These are just a few common examples, but pain breathing pain can crop up anywhere in the body. Try to pinpoint exactly where you’re experiencing the pain and when. Is it every time you take a breath, or only every once in a while? This will help your doctor make an accurate diagnosis.

Treating Breathing Pain

Once a diagnosis has been decided on, your doctor will walk you through the treatment methods. Depending on the location and cause of the pain, treatment methods can vary from prescription medications, to pain injections, to surgery in the most severe cases.

If you are experiencing sharp pain that occurs when breathing in, make an appointment with a pain physician to diagnose your condition. The pain doctors at Advanced Spine & Pain Clinics of MN have decades of experience treating patients with all types of pain throughout Minnesota. Contact us today to set up your appointment and stop living your life in pain.

Treating Nausea & Pain Conditions

December 7, 2015/0 Comments/in Pain /by Matthew Thorson

Nausea and pain often go hand-in-hand. Certain painful conditions can cause nausea, and a lot of prescription pain drugs can also result in feelings of nausea and vomiting. In this article, we will talk about the ways in which nausea and pain interact and how you can effectively identify and treat these symptoms.

Nausea Caused by Pain

There are several common pain conditions and injuries that can come with both pain and nausea. Here are a few examples:

Kidney stones
Gallstones
Endometriosis
Pancreatitis
Osteomyelitis
Brain injury

These are just a few of many possible culprits when a patient is experiencing pain and nausea in tandem. Because pain and nausea can indicate so many different conditions, your physician will try to narrow down a diagnosis by performing a physical exam, looking at your medical history, and possibly ordering diagnostic tests like blood draws, x-rays, or injections.

Nausea & Pain Pills

Nausea and vomiting is also a common side effect of many prescription pain pills. Every patient’s body reacts differently to certain drugs. One person may feel nauseous after taking a certain drug, while another person may feel just fine. There are many factors at play including the patient’s medical history, lifestyle, and any other medications they are taking. Preventing the nausea may involve decreasing the dosage, or trying alternative pain meds.

Treating Nausea Pain

If you are experiencing nausea and pain at the same time, whether due to an injury, pre-existing condition, or as the result of pain medication, contact a pain management specialist to set up an appointment. The experienced pain doctors at Advanced Spine & Pain Clinics of MN can help get to the bottom of what’s causing the nausea, and offer methods for treating the underlying condition. Contact us today to set up your appointment and get back to living your life to the fullest, pain free!

Should I Rest or be Active after a Back Injection?

December 3, 2015/0 Comments/in Injections /by Matthew Thorson

Recovering from most surgical procedures requires at least a short period of restful recovery before returning to normal activities. But is the same true for less invasive procedures like pain injections? That’s our topic for this blog article – is it better to rest or be active after you get a pain management injection?

Pain Injections

There are a handful of different pain injections that can be used in different situations to treat pain. Here is a brief outline of a few:

Corticosteroid Injections reduce swelling, inflammation, and pain in joints and other areas of the body.
Nerve Block Injections work to prevent pain signals from travelling to/from the brain and the painful area.
PRP Injections use the patient’s own blood platelets and plasma to encourage natural tissue regrowth.

The procedure for each of these injections is relatively, but not exactly, the same. For example, PRP injections require the physician to first draw some of the patient’s blood and run it through a centrifuge before the solution can be re-injected into the patient’s body. That being said, all of these injections involve numbing the injection area, and then injecting the solution. Most of the time the procedures can be completed in about 30 minutes, though various outside factors may inflate that timing.

Rest vs. Activity

So what, if any, are the activity restrictions after a pain injection? After most surgeries, patients aren’t allowed to return to rigorous activity for days, or weeks after the procedure. When it comes to pain injections, activity restrictions are not nearly as strict. With most injections procedures, patients will be able to return to their routine daily activities on the same day, or day after the procedure. If you have a physically demanding job that requires a lot of lifting and movement, there may be some additional restrictions. Each patient situation is different, and you should always defer to your doctor’s specific instructions.

If you are struggling with pain, injection therapy may be a helpful treatment option. Contact the pain management specialists at Advanced Spine & Pain Clinics of MN today to see if you are a good candidate for one of these injections.