Make Pain a Thing of the Past – alternative – Physician Partners of America

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Interviewer: If we’re in pain and we get surgery, we expect that to fix the problem, right? Well, sometimes it doesn’t. Dr. Rudy Gari from Florida Pain Relief Group is here to help us figure out what to do next. Welcome back, Dr. Gari.

Dr. Gari: My pleasure.

Interviewer: How often do you have people come through your door and say I’ve had back surgery?

Dr. Gari: Everyday.

Interviewer: Everyday, and some people say they’ve had more than one?

Dr. Gari: I’ve had patients have one, two, three…I’ve had one patient that’s had five back operations.

Interviewer: And are they just at their wit’s end because it’s not helping?

Dr. Gari: Unfortunately. But we actually take a lot of pride in the fact that our specialty pain management, it’s the end of the road, but it’s a nice road to be in because there’s a lot of things that we can do for you. There’s a large majority of the back operations that do very, very well for patients, and the majority of patients do well from back surgery. But there is that select few that it doesn’t do well. And so for example the chances of a successful operation after the first back surgery is somewhere between 70% and 80 plus %.

Interviewer: You’re odds are pretty good.

Dr. Gari: Very good. Second one, maybe 40% to 50%. And the third one you’re dropping down to 15% to 20%.

Interviewer: So more surgery is not an option at this point.

Dr. Gari: It’s not an option because a lot of times by the time you’ve had three back operations, in the majority of situations you should be talking to a physician like myself that specializes in pain management because by that point, unfortunately your pain has pretty much become your illness. So we can find lots of ways to help you without another back operation.

Interviewer: What do you do when somebody comes to you and says I’ve had four operations? Do you get an X-ray to see what’s been done or how do you assess the damage?

Dr. Gari: The first thing I do is to listen very carefully, so we’re gonna get a thorough history. I want to know everything that’s happened. Why did you get the first back operation? Second, third, etc. Second thing I’m gonna do is I’m going to examine that patient. Find out where the pain is and where it’s coming from. A lot of times you can pick up a lot on the examination. For example, I had a patient just a couple of days ago who came in and said he had pain in his elbow. They told him he had tennis elbow. What he really had was a pinched nerve in his neck causing that. So you have to do an examination. I picked it up because he had weakness, loss of sensation, there’s a lot of things you can pick up in the examination. The third thing that I’m gonna do is maybe an X-ray, maybe an MRI, maybe a cat scan, different studies. I want to know exactly where you are after your operations. Once we’ve come across all that we’ll establish a diagnosis and establish a treatment plan, what to do. And over 90% does not involve another back operation.

Interviewer: Isn’t that great? And what percentage involves pills? There are different ways to treat it.

Dr. Gari: Well some patients are gonna need pills, and that could be an anti-inflammatory, it could be a muscle relaxer, it could be an opioid, it could be an anti-depressant, just different things. But we want to minimize your pills. Nerve blocks or sometimes things that are called [inaudible 00:03:09] re-stimulators, which are just little tiny electrodes that we can place in your back to actually take away that pain sensation in your back and your legs and replace it with a much more gentle and much more comfortable sensation.

Interviewer: So basically you give them their freedom back?

Dr. Gari: That’s what we try to do with every patient.

Interviewer: So instead of going for the operation first and foremost, go see Dr. Gari first to see if you even need it in the first place.

Dr. Gari: Absolutely. And we will gladly refer you to a neurosurgeon or a surgeon if we need that or if you want a second opinion.

Interviewer: Okay. Dr. Gari, thank you very much. You can visit their website, floridapainreliefgroup.com to schedule your same-day appointment. Give them a call at 844-KICK-PAIN. We’ll be right back with more Daytime so don’t go away.

Is muscle pain, weakness, or stiffness keeping you tossing and turning each night? If you struggle to find a reason behind this frustration, here’s a possibility that you may not have considered—fibromyalgia. This disorder not only affects memory, concentration, and energy levels, but its associated chronic pain can leave you unable to achieve a restful night of sleep.

The Relationship of Fibromyalgia and Sleep Problems

Fibromyalgia and sleep disturbances go hand in hand: the painful symptoms of fibromyalgia can make it difficult – if not impossible – to achieve the deep and restful sleep that you need to lead a healthy life. Unfortunately, many other common symptoms of fibromyalgia are heightened by a lack of sleep. For a fibromyalgia sufferer, this lack of sleep becomes both a symptom and a trigger, making the management of fibromyalgia sleep problems crucial.

Trigger Point Injections for Fibromyalgia Pain Relief

While there is no one fibromyalgia treatment that works for everyone, the pain management physicians at Physician Partners of America have found that many patients respond well to trigger point injections. In fibromyalgia sufferers, trigger points are areas of acute musculoskeletal pain and spasm; pain often begins in these areas as a result of tension in the muscles and radiates outwards, contributing to the full-body chronic pain that is common to fibromyalgia. Though some trigger points arise as a result of physical trauma, such as bruising or hairline fractures, they can also occur spontaneously when a muscle spasms. These trigger points are a major cause of having difficulty sleeping—not only are they painful on their own, but pressure from the trigger point can cause pain to radiate outwards to the rest of the body.

Trigger point injections, or TPIs, combat the painful effects of trigger points by injecting a small amount of anesthetic, corticosteroid, or muscle relaxant directly into the trigger point itself. This extremely localized treatment provides near-instant relief for trigger point pain and can help fibromyalgia sufferers avoid dependence on painkillers. Even better, our pain relief physicians have found that once treated, individual trigger points rarely reoccur, making TPIs among the longest-lasting relief for fibromyalgia sufferers!

Find Lasting Relief for Chronic Pain with Alternative Pain Management

The most stressful thing about suffering from chronic pain is being prescribed medication after medication, masking the pain for the time being, but offering little long-term relief. At Physician Partners of America, we offer patients alternative pain management methods to help you experience safer and lasting relief.

What is Alternative Pain Management?

Alternative pain management can be defined as a medical treatment, therapy, or intervention that exists outside the realm of conventional medical practices. Some popular examples of alternative therapies and non-pharmacological treatments include:

  • Chiropractic care
  • Yoga
  • Massage
  • Acupuncture

Here at the Physician Partners of America, we strive to avoid the use of prescription drugs when possible and rather focus on finding the best form of alternative pain management for the patient. We offer nearly two dozen drug-free treatment options to help you experience pain relief for chronic pain. Some of these include:

Which Conditions Can Be Treated with Alternative Pain Management Techniques?

Our physicians specialize in treating a wide variety of chronic pain problems using non-drug methods. Whether you suffer from chronic abdominal pain, arthritis, diabetic neuropathy, lower back pain, or another painful ailment, we can help. The beauty of Texas Pain Relief is that our team of physicians views each patient as a unique individual. Our physicians take the time to listen to each patient as they describe their symptoms and how their pain is affecting their everyday life. Based on feedback from the patient, along with thorough discussion of the patient’s medical history, we are able to recommend a specific technique or combination of techniques designed to treat the patient’s unique and chronic pain.

With traditional drug therapy, the goal is often to merely mask your symptoms. Unfortunately, this is only a temporary solution. You may take a drug that helps to relieve the physical pain of arthritis, while not actually offering long-term remedy. In this case, the problem may actually be worsening beneath the surface. At our clinic, we seek to understand the root cause of your problem so that we can alleviate your pain permanently. Our doctors take their calling seriously to improve the quality of life of every patient they treat.

Learn More About Your Chronic Pain Treatment Options

Our staff is happy to answer your questions about our chronic pain relief treatment methods as well as the types of conditions we treat using natural therapies.