“Patients can now receive interventional techniques that are no longer palliative in nature,” stated Samir Khan, DO, provider on the medical staff at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center - McKinney. “Instead of just masking pain, we strive to focus on the root cause of the pain. That's probably what excites me most about the field now, because a lot of these technologies didn't exist 10 years ago. When people hear about pain management, they think ‘I'm going to go to this clinic and get medicine for the rest of my life,’ where the truth is there are many alternative options worth exploring with a pain management provider.”
Patients seeking options from pain management providers can also explore sub specialists in this field. Many practitioners have advanced interventional training. Patients with back, neck, spine or joint pain may find options like steroid injections, ablations, denervations, regenerative therapies and nerve stimulation, such as peripheral or spinal cord stimulation, also called neuromodulation.
In addition to these new methods, patients can oftentimes assist their pain by incorporating gentle movement into their daily lives. Walking often and getting 5,000 to 10,000 steps a day can be beneficial for individuals’ overall health.
Dr. Khan additionally shared there is often an emotional component to chronic pain management as well.
“Anytime someone can fill their day with activities they enjoy or social activities to not have to focus on the pain, a lot of times that reduces your pain level,” Dr. Khan said.
This new approach to treating chronic pain can help patients with a wide variety of conditions, including:
- Back pain (discogenic, vertebrogenic, persistent spinal pain syndrome)
- Neck pain (cervical radiculopathy, spondylosis, stenosis)
- Spinal Stenosis (cervical and lumbar)
- Sciatica
- Radiculopathy
- Arthritis (hip, knee, shoulder, spine)
- Joint pain (hip, knee, shoulder, sacroiliac)
- Bursitis
- Neuropathies and nerve-related pain
- Diabetic neuropathy
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
- Phantom limb pain
- Osteoarthritis
- Piriformis Syndrome
- Post-Arthroplasty Pain
- Persistent Spinal Pain Syndrome
Once patients understand the source of their chronic pain, they can find quality care through new methods.
“It's very rare nowadays with modern medicine that you just have to be suffering and in pain all the time,” Dr. Khan said. “The old school of thought was to just lower the intensity of your pain at all times. Now, the focus is really on improving your function and getting you back to the activities that you enjoy and we now have a very large toolbox to work with.”
Baylor Scott & White—McKinney is located at 5252 W University Drive, McKinney. Individuals experiencing chronic pain can make an appointment at Baylor Scott & White—McKinney to find compassionate, quality medical care today. To learn more, visit www.bswhealth.com. To download the free MyBSW app, visit www.mybswhealth.com/download.
Physicians provide clinical services as members of the medical staff at one of Baylor Scott & White Health’s subsidiary, community or affiliated medical centers and do not provide clinical services as employees or agents of those medical centers or Baylor Scott & White Health.
The above story was produced by Multi Platform Journalist Mary Katherine Shapiro with Community Impact's Storytelling team with information solely provided by the local business as part of their "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team.
