Physical Methods:


Include physiotherapy, osteopathy and chiropractic

Medication

  • Simple Analgesics:: Anti-inflammatory drugs, including NSAIDs and
    Cox-2inhibitors.
  • Strong analgesics:: These are commonly known as opiate medications
  • Antidepressants & anti epileptics:: In pain clinics these drugs are not used for treating depression or epilepsy but because they can have a direct effect on certain forms of pain.
  • Drugs which act on a special part of the nervous system, sometimes involved in chronic pain, called the sympathetic nervous system.
  • Steroids:: Usually used in special injections around nerves or into joints.

Intervention:: Stimulation Therapy

  • TENS - Trans Cutaneous Electrical Stimulation, involves wearing special pads which are attached via cables to a small machine which delivers a tiny electric current through the skin over the area of the pain.
  • Acupuncture is another form of stimulation therapy.
  • Spinal Cord Stimulation:: This involves the stimulation of spinal nerves using tiny electrical currents. In carefully selected patients the technique can block chronic pain. A special electrode, which is powered by an implanted battery or receiver, is implanted via the skin into the epidural space onto the surface of the spinal cord.

Drug Delivery Systems

This involves implanting a pump into the patient's body so as to deliver pain-relieving drugs directly to the spinal cord.

Psychological Help Pain Management

Chronic pain can have profound psychological effects, including feelings of hopelessness, anger, sadness, and even despair. These feelings can interfere with your ability to perform your job or your normal daily activities.

Psychological therapy aim to reduce the disability and distress caused by chronic persistent pain, by teaching sufferers physical, psychological and practical techniques to improve their quality of life. They differ from standard pain clinic therapy in that pain relief is not the primary goal. Your treatment plan may include the following psychological therapies: Individual and group counseling, Biofeedback, Relaxation techniques, Self-hypnosis Visual imaging Learning or conditioning techniques.

Surgery

In some cases, referral to a Consultant Surgeon may be necessary in order to relieve chronic pain; surgery, however comes at the very end of the line and everything possible is done at the Pain Clinic in order to avoid surgery.