Pain is an uneasy feeling which lets you know something may be incorrect in your body. It is a way of transmitting advice to the brain. Your nerves and spinal cord provide path for symptoms to travel from and to your brain and the remaining organs of your body. Sometimes pain can be just an annoyance, like a normal headache. It may be serious at other times.

Types of Pain:

There are mainly two types of pain which include:

·         Chronic pain-this type of pain continues for weeks, months, or years. It occurs along with the chronic health condition such as arthritis. It can affect the people in such a way that they cannot eat properly, do not involve in physical activity, and they do not enjoy life. Chronic pain is treated as a major medical illness and that should be medicated. Low back pain, arthritis pain, cancer pain, headache are some examples of chronic pain. Other pains due to the damage in main nerve system like spinal cord and brain may lead to the pain disorders like neuropathies and neuralgias.

·         Acute Pain-it may occur due to the tissue damage, inflammation, illness, injury, or due to the recent surgery and normally due to an identifiable cause and it remains for short duration, most probably it is less than one or two weeks. You can relieve from this pain after treating the underlying cause.

Pain Medicine:

Pain medicine is also called as analgesic. Every type of analgesics has advantages and disadvantages. Particular type of pain can be relieved better to some kind of medicines than to other kind. OTC (over-the-counter) medications are better for several types of pains. You can buy over-the-counter medicines without doctor’s prescription. They include:

·         Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS).

·         Acetaminophen (Tylenol).

NSAID:

·         You can buy these medicines without a prescription. For example ibuprofen (motrin, advil), aspirin, or naproxen (aleve, naprosyn).

·         Doctors can suggest medicines such as diclofenac, flurbiprofen, ketoprofin, tolmetin, nabumetone, melxicam, dexibuprofen, celecoxib and indomethacin.

·         Do not use aspirin for children- while treating chicken pox and viral infections in children, usage of aspirin may cause Reye syndrome.

·         If you are suffering with high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease or if you have a history of digestive system disorders or stomach bleeding, take care before using OTC and NSAID.

These medications can give relieve from pain, and they also decrease the swelling from strain, arthritis or sprains of muscles. Even though your health condition is good, taking too much pain medicines for many days may cause side effects.

Acetaminophen:

·         It is also called as non-aspirin pain medicine. It is used for low fever and headaches and other mild pains and aches.

·         It is safe for children, it is tolerable by stomach. Pain medicine doctors mostly recommend acetaminophen for arthritis pain due to its lesser side effects.

·         Do not cross the limit of 4000mg per day, over dose can be dangerous to the liver.

Pain medicine doctors are mainly concerned about the patient’s ability to function and their quality of life. When the pain becomes complicated or chronic by other medical conditions, a primary care specialist may refer the person to a pain medicine doctor, such as a physiatrist. Generally physiatrists are the doctors who specialized in rehabilitation and physical medicine, particularly in musculoskeletal problems.

Certain physiatrists take advanced course in interventional pain management, which totally related to the diagnosis and treating various pain related conditions. A pain medicine doctor suggests a treatment plan to ease, reduce or deal with the pain and helps the person to do the everyday activities as quickly as possible without the need of a surgery or medications. To fulfill every patient needs, pain medicine doctor coordinates care through an interdisciplinary group of professionals, such as: Physical Therapists, Physiatrists, Occupational Therapists, Internists, Nurses, Oncologists, Anesthesiologists, Psychologists, Surgical specialists and Psychiatrists.

Pain medicine doctors are usually concerned with the individual’s quality of life. So to meet that end, the physician treats the whole patient, not simply a part of the body.

While finding a pain medicine specialist, do your homework. Not every pain medicine specialist is similar. Make sure that the doctor has the certificate of pain management from his specialty board. Ask for referrals. Primary care specialist can recommend good pain medicine doctors. Search online for good physicians and check their website ratings and user reviews.

Pain management by specialty:

Sports injuries are common in athletes that can happen to professional or amateur athletes. Sports injuries are commonly due to the overuse of parts while participating in certain activities. For instance, runner's knee is a most painful condition that commonly associated with running; tennis elbow is a kind of repetitive stress injury at the elbow and various other injuries can be caused due to a hard contact with something that cause a torn ligament or broken bone or tendon as seen in many contact sports like soccer, ice hockey, football and rugby. (Sports Medicine)

Pain associated with these types of injuries is inevitable, but suffering is optional. For most athletes, pain is normal part of their everyday life. But, how to cope with and overcome from pain and how an athlete can differentiate benign and potentially damaging pain.

Moreover, pain restricts the athlete's ability to concentrate on the performance and take away the chance to finish. Sometimes pain can also be a cause of an end to the athlete's career.

When the pain lasts three months or more, then it is called as chronic pain. Chronic pain when left untreated can lead to depression and various other illnesses over a long period. Chronic pain should not be ignored and it can be successfully treated and managed by an experienced physician.

Here are various approaches for chronic pain management:

Physical therapy: It offers various hands-on treatments in order to activate the healing process of your body and finally to relieve the pain of the damaged tissues, muscles and joints. Physical therapy greatly helps to maintain optimal health, fitness, and enhance the quality of life. This treatment gradually helps your body to become more fit and strong, promotes muscle relaxation, improves the blood flow and relieves muscle fatigue and regains your body movements.

A physical therapist with his skilled hands offers a profound and gentle touch to activate the healing process of your body.

Pain medications: Usually, pain medications are not recommended for dealing with chronic pain. Any chronic condition takes time to heal. Pain medications can definitely help to reduce the pain, but to get long-term relief an effective pain management program will be required. (Pain Medicine)

Massage: Massage therapy releases the contracted muscles and increases blood circulation. As massage relaxes the nervous system, blood vessels dilate to increase the blood flow. Areas with poor blood circulation develop trigger points that cause pain or tingling. Trigger points respond well to a massage therapy.