Chronic pain – pain that is experienced most days or every day over the previous three months – can be debilitating and have significant negative impacts on a person’s day-to-day life. The experts at the WVU Medicine Center for Integrative Pain Management understand that it’s important to treat the whole person and not just the physical symptoms of pain.
Last year, a study from the National Institutes of Health showed that “new cases of chronic pain occur more often among U.S. adults than new cases of several other common conditions, including diabetes, depression and high blood pressure. Among people who have chronic pain, almost two-thirds still suffer from it a year later.”
The team at the WVU Medicine Center for Integrative Pain Management offers an integrative approach that combines the latest medical treatments with individual and group behavioral therapy, nutritional counseling with a registered dietitian, movement therapy with an exercise physiologist and natural treatments like acupuncture, massage therapy and chiropractic care.
All patients go through an intake process, and the team constructs an individualized treatment plan to help them through their pain management journey. That tailored plan may include a combination of therapies, including:
- Acupuncture
- Behavioral medicine
- Chiropractic medicine
- Fast track spine care: most neck and back pain
- Interventional therapies
- Massage therapy
- Medical management
- Movement therapy
- Non-surgical and pre-/post-operative knee pain treatments
- Nutritional counseling
Patients who experience chronic pain, cancer pain or severe spasticity may be candidates for the Medtronic SynchroMed™ III System, which the providers at the WVU Medicine Center for Integrative Pain Management were the first in the region to implant. Those who suffer from painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) may benefit from spinal cord stimulation, a proven and effective treatment.
“Chronic pain can impact every aspect of a person’s life, making the participation in and enjoyment of everyday activities impossible,” Richard Vaglienti, M.D., M.B.A., director of the WVU Medicine Center for Integrative Pain Management, said. “We treat the whole person so that we can reduce their reliance on prescription pain medication and get them back to the quality of life they so desperately want.”
For more information about the WVU Medicine Center for Integrative Pain Management, visit WVUMedicine.org/Pain or call 855-WVU-CARE to schedule an appointment.
