Summit Medical Center - Surgical Treatment Center Oklahoma City OK

More people are seeking pain management in Oklahoma City these days, partly because the field has received more media attention both locally and nationwide, and partly because of the great steps forward that have been made in recent years. Many people suffer from chronic or ongoing pain that, in many cases, a regular doctor cannot diagnose or simply cannot relieve. However, pain management specialists like ours at Summit Medical Center can help.

So how does pain management work? There are several essentials to the approach that any good pain management clinic will take:

1.  An interdisciplinary focus – One of the reasons that pain is so hard to treat is that it is endemic to a wide variety of health conditions. Most adverse conditions will cause pain or discomfort at some point. That means that pain, as such, goes beyond the boundaries of any individual doctor or therapist's specialization. The best pain management centers focus on an interdisciplinary approach in which patients work with care providers of several backgrounds to explore options that a single physician may not be aware of. Thankfully, this is something that we provide in-house, as our center has many doctors with a variety of different specializations.

2.  Physical therapy – Many people are surprised at how much pain relief they can experience after just a few sessions of physical therapy. While pain has many causes, specialized movements to stretch and mobilize the body are effective for a wide number of cases. Often, pain is related to specific muscles or areas and one of our physical therapists can work on these areas to achieve results.

3.  Exercise recommendations – Exercise goes hand in hand with physical therapy: it's like continuing the therapy every day in-between appointments. Stretching or exercising an area that hurts may seem counter-intuitive, but the results can be astonishing, especially with arthritis, back pain, and former injuries.

4.  Psychological treatment – Sometimes stress and anxiety can manifest as physical pain. This pain can range from mild and generalized to severe and acute. Psychological therapists working on pain focus on identifying stress sources, helping patients to make lifestyle changes, and teaching stress reduction techniques.

5.  Medication – Sometimes medication is a helpful in overcoming pain; however, pain management centers like ours at Summit do not use painkillers as a first line of defense, and instead prescribe medication carefully as the causes of pain become known. For example, antidepressants or anticonvulsants could help eliminate the underlying cause of certain types of pain, whereas painkillers would only dull it.

Of course, these are only the basics of pain management in Oklahoma City or anywhere. Do you experience ongoing pain? What have you done about it? Contact us today at Summit Medical Center if you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment.