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How Chronic Pain Is Becoming an Epidemic in the USA
How Chronic Pain Is Becoming an Epidemic in the USA

People suffering from chronic back pain know how it can completely disturb and damage their lives. Chronic back pain can be cruel—it makes it impossible even to enjoy the easiest everyday work or perform a workout.

Reports suggest that 11-40% of Americans have chronic pain — it is uncertain to understand the details on the pain. The medical profession always assumed that pain was a sign of a fundamental injury or illness. Doctors focused on managing the source of pain with the expectation that once the injury or illness has been treated, the chronic pain will vanish. You can visit Neuroscience Specialist in OKC to get relieve from your pain permanently.

If there is no underlying cause, it was told the patient that there are very few options or, worse the "pain has to be in your head." Certain clinicians still do this without any understanding of the particular issue of chronic pain or of new ideas about chronic pain and of the many factors that affect chronic pain.

Fortunately, efforts have been promoted in recent years to concentrate public attention on the issue of chronic pain. In 2016, the Department of Health and Human Services published the National Pain Strategy which builds on the efforts of patient advocates, scientists and government experts. The plan suggested enhancing access to quality treatment and testing to assess the most appropriate therapies conducted within a pain clinic.

How Brain Distresses

The medical community is beginning to understand how chronic pain itself becomes an issue if pain no longer works with a stable nervous system.

Advanced neuro-imaging has shown that, compared to acute and/or short term pain, chronic pain can cause structural brain changes that raise the risk of cognitive disorders, anxiety and depression.

Moreover, brain physiology experiments have shown that a person's experiences indicate that the central nervous system can alter Medicines and states of health such as anxiety and depression may play a part in these changes

Unrecognized Pain

Although X-ray will confirm a broken leg and a blood test for testing the amount of white blood cells indicates an infection, there is no medical test to determine the levels of chronic pain. So many patients with chronic pain are looking for clarifications from one doctor to the next. This process will result in unnecessary tests and treatments.

Another problem is that everyone has a different feeling and shows their pain. Depending on a variety of factors, two individuals with the same harm will perceive and reveal their pain in a particular manner:

  • The symptoms underlying the pain

  • Chronic pain feelings, such as "nothing serious," vs. "this pain might kill me"

  • Chronic pain-related feelings such as depression and anxiety versus optimism

  • Cultural factors that cause a person to show pain to others more stoic or more dramatic

Unlike other people, all the pain is real. This may sound obvious, but chronic pain is often treated like imagination or exaggeration. In certain circumstances, they believe they must show their friends, family and doctors their chronic pain. The doctor assures some patients that there is no justification for chronic pain and therefore it can't be that bad.

Neuroscience Specialist in OKC has a team of doctors who have well researched the symptoms and causes of chronic pain. You can come to us if you need treatment immediately. Give us a call to book your schedule.

**Disclaimer- Information presented here is not intended to be qualified medical advice. Nothing expressed herein creates a doctor-patient relationship.