Qualities of the Top Doctor for Pain 2019 | Best Pain Management Physician
Pain management doctors can come from any field of medicine and healthcare. They may be anesthesiologists, neurosurgeons, podiatrists, neurologists, orthopedic surgeons, physiatrists, or even primary care physicians.
However, even though pain management specialists can come from so many verticals of healthcare, finding the correct pain doctor is still challenging.
This is because different types of pain doctors treat chronic pain using different methods. Some pain doctors recommend surgical procedures, some offer opioids for pain management, and some treat the root cause of chronic pain.
Generally speaking, you should avoid surgeries and opioids altogether. Surgeries are complicated and risky compared to modern minimally invasive treatments. And opioids are dangerous because they can lead to addiction and they only provide temporary relief from pain. In fact, the United States is currently in the throes of an opioid crisis so you must avoid medical centers that rely on opioids for pain treatment.
So how do you go about finding a good pain management center? What are the qualities to look for?
In this article, we discuss the qualities of the top doctor for pain 2019.
Interventional Pain Management
As mentioned previously, several different types of doctors can practice pain treatment and may be called “pain doctors”. However, pain doctors can be classified into three broad categories.
- Palliative Specialists: These are specialists trained to deal with cancer pain and other types of chronic pain stemming from similar underlying illnesses. They deal with the psychological and emotional aspects of pain management and also prescribe opioids.
- Chronic Pain Specialists: These are pain management specialists who are trained in addiction and the prescription of pain medication. They largely focus on opioid management, which is why you should avoid them altogether, especially since it’s the overprescription of opioids that has thrown the United States into an opioid crisis. Furthermore, opioids can only provide temporary relief because they don’t treat the root cause of chronic pain, which is exactly why they’re not a suitable solution.
- Interventional Pain Specialists: These pain management doctors have advanced training in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic pain caused due to issues in the spine, bone, joints, cartilage, or other parts of your body. They use the latest minimally invasive procedures to treat chronic pain and provide long term relief without resorting to opioids or surgeries.
When looking for the top doctor for pain 2019, you should keep your search restricted to interventional pain specialists as they’re the only ones equipped to provide long term relief from pain without side effects.
Board Certification and Strong Educational Background
Board certification and a strong educational background help you filter out some of the best and most experienced pain doctors out there.
To get board certified, pain doctors have to complete their residency, fellowship from a reputable medical institute, and several other professional milestones. As such, if a pain doctor is board-certified in pain management, you can trust that they’re highly qualified, experienced, and reliable.
In addition to board certification, you can also look into the pain doctor’s educational background. You should look for pain doctors who have trained at reputable Ivy League universities or Harvard Medical School.
State-of-the-Art Pain Center
While the pain doctor’s experience is important, so is the quality of the pain center from which they operate. You should look for pain doctors associated with state-of-the-art pain centers.
Modern minimally invasive pain treatments rely on advanced technologies and equipment, which is why the medical center should be highly advanced as well.
Diagnosis of Chronic Pain Conditions
One of the biggest factors to consider is whether the pain doctor carefully diagnoses your chronic pain condition.
Chronic pain — whether it originates in your knees, neck, back, or other body parts — generally happen because of underlying issues like arthritis, tendinitis, bursitis, and others. That’s why the pain management center needs to diagnose the root cause of your chronic pain before curating a treatment plan.
The diagnosis should ideally start with a physical examination, followed by screening tests via Ultrasound scans, MRIs, CT scans, and X-Rays, followed by laboratory or blood tests. A combination of these tests will help the pain doctor narrow down the potential causes of chronic pain.
Once the pain doctor has successfully isolated the root cause of pain, they can proceed to the treatment.
Minimally Invasive Interventional Pain Treatment
Following the diagnosis, the pain doctor will curate a treatment plan comprising a combination of RICE, physical therapy, and a minimally invasive interventional pain treatment.
RICE is a home treatment in which you rest the injured or affected area, apply ice packs to reduce swelling, wrap an ACE bandage in the area for compression, and elevate the injured body part.
Physical Therapy is generally prescribed to help you resume your daily activities and regain mobility in the affected muscles.
Finally, the pain doctor will curate a minimally-invasive treatment plan in which they’ll use procedures like epidural injections, nerve ablation, nerve stimulators, facet joint injections, and other similarly simple procedures.
These are all non-surgical procedures that don’t rely on opioid management and they provide long term relief from chronic pain.
Schedule an Appointment with the Best Pain Treatment Medical Center
VIP Medical Group is a collective of some of the country’s finest pain doctors and pain management centers, including Pain Treatment Specialists in New York and New Jersey. We have nationally-recognized Harvard-trained and board-certified interventional pain specialists who identify the root cause of chronic pain and treat it with minimally invasive procedures. For more information, please schedule an appointment with the best pain treatment medical center today.