PAIN MANAGEMENT FOR CHRONIC BACK PAIN

In the past, it was accepted that pain - whether intractable or chronic - was something patients with certain injuries just had to learn to live with. It is not so today. While it can be tedious and cumbersome, requiring dedication, commitment, discipline as well as knowledge to be carried out and maintained, pain management is designed to treat chronic pain with the hopes of allowing us all to enjoy full and comfortable lives. In recent years, it has been discovered through extensive researches that pain adheres to both physiological and psychological bases that has aided in the development of pain management treatments that can provide complete or partial pain relief. Pain management can also assist to help one cope with post surgery residual pains or be an alternative for patients who are not candidates for surgery at all.

It is important that pain, at any time, especially when severe, be addressed, because untreated pain itself can interfere with the healing process by suppressing the immune system and leading to other negative issues. In cases of back pain, discomfort can impede rehabilitation by interfering with physical exercise. And as health professionals were once so bent on finding only the organic causes of pain, they too often dismissed the possibility of continuing pain in patients being caused by psychological distress, which we know today, is a large contributor to pain in all forms. But even without this, chronic pain can lead to neurological feedback processes that only serve to worsen the pain and make it more difficult to treat.

This is very true for chronic neck and back pains. While most times, cases tend to resolve on their own, the risk of recurrence or development into chronic diseases is alarming especially in cases involving failed back surgery or neuropathic pain.

Because of this, it is important to understand the different methods by which pain management may be applied. But since non-invasive treatments are more likely preferred over going "under the knife", one possible procedure that presents itself as a good option for relieving chronic pain conditions is known as Cold Laser Therapy Pain Management or Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT), which is a treatment that uses wavelengths of light to maneuver through tissue without breaking skin to help accelerate healing. It can be used on patients who suffer from a variety of acute and chronic conditions to eliminate pain. It assists to reduce swelling and increases an individual's mobility and functionality.

Cold lasers are handheld devices sized like a typical flashlight. It works by placing the laser directly over the injured area for anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes depending on the size of the affected area and the doctor's recommended dosage as indicated on the unit. In the process, the non-thermal photons of light that are emitted from the laser pass through the different layers of the skin, as the unit is capable of pushing light to penetrate through 2 to 5 centimeters below the skin at 90mw and 830 nm. And as in the process of photosynthesis in plants, once the light reaches the target area, it is absorbed and begins to interact with the light sensitive elements in the cells, allowing said cells to heal.