Dealing with chronic pain or acute injuries can be detrimental to your entire lifestyle. We all want to be able to work, play, and sleep without hindrance. When normal rest and treatments are not working for injuries, pain management clinics play an important role in getting patients back on their feet and in the swing of things.

Pain management clinics, also known as interdisciplinary clinics, are health care facilities that focus on linear diagnosis and treatment of chronic pain. This means that instead of having just one type of specialist at a facility, their team might include physical therapists, doctors and nurses, nutritionists, and even psychologists.

The goal is to create an educational, long-term solution for injuries and pain management. If this sounds like something you are in need of, read further to learn about how to best work with a pain management clinic.

Pain Management Services: What to Expect

Before selecting a pain management provider, you should know what you are looking for in your research. Most high-quality pain management services offer procedures that conventional pain management clinics do not. You should be looking for options such as:

• Orthobiologics: Orthobiologics is a new and exciting technique in orthopaedics that injects your own growth factors into the injured area of your body to promote your body’s natural healing response. This technique helps the body heal both acute and chronic injuries of the tendons, ligaments, and bones naturally. It is now making its way into mainstream clinics and offers the ability for patients to forego risky invasive surgeries. This treatment acts as an accelerant to healing and long-term regenerative growth and is very safe and easy to administer.

• Chiropractic and Massage Therapy: While both of these techniques have been around for centuries, it is rare to have experts from these disciplines working in an all-in-one clinic. This is one of the prime benefits of a pain management clinic: you don’t have to heal your chronic pain through one methodology, and can consult specialists in a myriad of fields.

• Nutraceutical specialists: Nutraceuticals are whole food-based remedies often used to boost immune health, tendon and joint strength, and inflammation. Popular nutraceuticals include Circumen with Bioprene, or cannabis-based products. There are hundreds of positive nutraceuticals, which is why having diversified specialists who are knowledgeable about them is important at a pain management clinic.

A qualified pain management clinic will have these options and more. The good thing is that you will have your chronic pain properly diagnosed, treatment planned, and procedures done all in the same facility. This allows for proper communication from all parties, and leads to a more rewarding and effective experience.

At Pinnacle Pain and Spine, we offer treatment at Desert Vista Surgical Center, as well. This element is crucial for offering patients the most comprehensive array of healing options, and it is all in one family of specialists. We pride ourselves on being agile and adaptive to making your diagnosis a priority in every case.

How to Get Started with a Pain Management Clinic

Now that we’ve identified what pain management clinics are and the types of treatments available, it’s time to look at the steps to enrolling in a plan. To begin with, you should spend time researching the ethics, policies, and standards of a clinic. See if their vision and methodology for chronic pain treatment and healthy living align with yours, and then schedule a consultation. In order to accomplish this, you will need the following:

1) A Referral: With any ailment or injury, it is likely you will be trying home remedies or a primary care physician before realizing it is chronic and in need of specialization. As such, more pain management clinics (and especially the most reputable ones) will require a referral from a physician.

In order to get as good a referral as possible for your insurance, you should try to pinpoint the area of pain, what you think might be causing it, and provide rationale for the treatment. While this sounds like a lot, it will go a long way in giving you a diverse treatment plan should your pain management require it.

2) Insurance: The reason a specific referral is important is so that you can get as much coverage as possible from your insurance when enrolling in a pain management plan. Like many other forms of treatment, they may not cover all of it, as multi-modal plans are rarely 100 percent subsidized.

For example, a good insurance provider might opt to cover the initial treatment but not physical therapy, chiropractic or supplements. Regardless of what it is, having a good dialogue between your primary, the pain management clinic, and your insurance provider will help you save the most money.

3) Setting up an appointment: Once you have a referral and approval from your insurance, it is time to schedule and attend your first appointment. This will include a physical exam, a review of your medical history, as well as some diagnostic testing. The more knowledge you have going in about the type of pain you’re experiencing will help your specialists diagnose you, but ultimately there is a reason you are going to them. Ask questions, learn about their pain management philosophy, and get on your way to a plan of health and rejuvenation.

Once you have established a relationship with a pain management provider, the goal is to properly assess and map out treatments. This is where quality of care and communication from both parties is important; be sure to stay vocal about acute and chronic pain, and your treatment will likely be much smoother!

Comprehensive Pain Management at Pinnacle Pain and Spine

While pain management and the treatment offered by different clinics can seem overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be. At Pinnacle Pain and Spine, our goal is to offer comprehensive pain management with the most efficient and productive treatments available.

If you are suffering from chronic pain or discomfort, please reach out to our team of specialists. Our sole goal is to increase quality of life, and that can start with a consultation today.