Make Pain a Thing of the Past – edrick lopez – Physician Partners of America

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Physician Spotlight – Edrick Lopez, M.D.

Edrick Lopez. M.D. is an interventional pain management physician at our McKinney office. McKinney is a booming city in North Texas where Dr. Lopez and his team are happy to help all patients find pain relief. Dr. Lopez is bi-lingual, speaking both Spanish and English.

Dr. Lopez is double board-certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Pain Medicine by the America Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Michigan, followed by a dual degree in medicine and law from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine and School of Law.

He was originally inspired to practice medicine by his father, who was a doctor.

“My father was a rheumatologist in Puerto Rico, so I have grown up with medicine. And I’ve always had an interest in politics and history, which are the foundation of law,” Dr. Lopez says. “The dual degree gave me the opportunity to learn about the system physicians practice in and about how healthcare is run.”

He also enjoys the interaction with the patients and making a positive difference in people’s lives.

He began his career in medicine with a residency at Harvard Medical School in physical medicine and rehabilitation. He went on to complete a fellowship at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in pain management through the Anesthesiology department.

Dr. Lopez decided to make the eventual move to Texas because his wife and in-laws are all from there. He is excited to be near his family while providing residents of North Texas with world-class interventional pain care.

Although there have been many outstanding moments within his career, attending his residency graduation at the Harvard Club was one of them. The biggest joy for him though, is seeing patients come back to the office with a smile on their face because he and his team alleviate plain that was limiting their quality of life.

Dr. Lopez has presented and written on a variety of medical and healthcare law topics, ranging from spinal cord stimulators to healthcare reform. His law degree gives him unique insight into patient care.

“I feel it makes me a better patient advocate,” he says.

Dr. Lopez and his wife are the proud parents of three boys. In his spare time, he enjoys playing tennis, watching NBA basketball, playing guitar and reading Malcolm Gladwell books.

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Edrick Lopez, M.D., Joins PPOA – McKinney

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Dr. Edrick Lopez is a pain management specialist with a legal background.

Physician Partners of America welcomes Edrick Lopez, M.D., as an interventional pain management physician in our  McKinney, Texas, office. He begins his position on Sept. 4.

Dr. Lopez is double board-certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Pain Medicine by the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

He takes a multidisciplinary approach to pain relief of neck, back and joint injections. He performs Botox for migraine headaches as well as regenerative medicine.

He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Michigan followed by a dual degree in medicine and law from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine and School of Law.

“I’ve always had an interest in politics and history, which are the foundation of law,” says, Dr. Lopez, whose father was a rheumatologist in Puerto Rico. “The dual degree gave me the opportunity to learn about the system physicians practice in and about how healthcare is run.”

After working as a research assistant and law clerk in Puerto Rico, he ultimately chose a career in medicine. He completed a residency at Harvard Medical School in physical medicine and rehabilitation, followed by a fellowship at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in pain management through the Anesthesiology department.

Throughout his training, he worked in a variety of positions beyond his training duties. These included the West Roxbury Veterans Administration Hospital in Boston, South Texas Spinal Clinic in San Antonio, and Baptist Healthcare System. He comes to Physician Partners of America after three years as a pain management physician at El Paso Pain Center in Texas.

Dr. Lopez has presented and written on a variety of medical and healthcare law topics ranging from spinal cord stimulators to healthcare reform. Although he does not practice law, he feels his legal training gives him a unique perspective on his patient care. “I feel it makes me a better patient advocate,” he says.

Dr. Lopez is fluent in English and Spanish. He is married to a Dallas native and the proud father of three boys. In his spare time he enjoys playing guitar, tennis and watching Dallas Mavericks basketball.

Patients can make appointments with Dr. Edrick Lopez at the clinic, 2730 Virginia Parkway, Suite 300 B, McKinney, TX 75071 by calling (469) 660-1426. Same-day appointments are available.

 

 

 

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The Opioid Crisis – Where Are We Now?

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Opioid overdoses are now the leading cause of death in people under age 50, killing about 64,000 Americans in 2016.

While short on specifics, President Donald Trump addressed this “national emergency” in his first State of the Union address, saying, in part, “My administration is committed to fighting the drug epidemic and helping get treatment for those in need. The struggle will be long and difficult — but, as Americans always do, we will prevail.”

What pain management physicians must do to treat chronic pain is to retrain patients’ – and even practitioners’ – thinking that narcotic painkillers are the first course of action.

“To fight the opioid epidemic, you need to dissuade people from using them in the first place,” said Abraham Rivera, M.D., chief medical officer for Physician Partners of America (PPOA). He will address this subject at the Florida Academy of Pain Medicine at an April 28 Opioid Update summit in Clearwater, Fla.

Interventional pain management, a core practice of PPOA, remains a little-discussed part of the solution. Rivera points out that not everyone in the healthcare community understands the meaning of that key word, interventional. “Our providers get to the root of the problem,” he said. “We don’t just mask the pain with medication. That is at the heart of what we do.”

Interventional pain management, as practiced by PPOA physicians, focuses on minimally invasive procedures such as nerve blocks, radiofrequency ablation, injections, spinal cord stimulators and pain pump implants to treat the pain at its source.

Laser-assisted Spine Surgery

PPOA recently launched laser-assisted, minimally invasive spine surgery. This outpatient procedure, reserved for cases that interventional techniques may not be able to address, are not like open-back surgeries of the past.

  • It requires incisions that are less than one inch long
  • Muscles surrounding the spine are gently spread with small dilating instruments instead of being cut and retracted
  • Narrow endoscopic instruments, guided by tiny video cameras that project magnified images onto a screen, further spare tissue trauma
  • Patients can get back to work or activities in days or a few weeks, not months

Physician Partners of America is actively adding spine specialists to its team, including James St. Louis, D.O., surgical founder of Laser Spine Institute in Tampa.

Cutting-edge Orthopedic Procedures

Orthopedics is another interventional aspect of PPOA’s medical services. Led by PPOA physicians Brian McGraw, D.O., and Chad Gorman, M.D. in Florida, our services help patients with trigger point injections and other minimally invasive procedures, PRP (platelet-rich plasma) therapy to aid in soft tissue recovery, and stem-cell regeneration.

Preventing Pain

Interventional pain management also seeks to lessen the likelihood of pain that traditionally requires oral medication. To this end, PPOA physicians routinely use intraoperative neuromonitoring, a real-time monitoring of the nervous system during surgical procedures. This offers nerve-damage protection to a degree that neither a physician nor fluoroscopy can detect with accuracy. The result is usually minimal pain and reduced risk of temporary or permanent nerve damage.

Another interventional tool is used at the clinical level: test can determine which medications are safe, unsafe or ineffective based on the individual patient’s genome.

“Cutting-edge technology, such as intraoperative neuromonitoring and drug genes testing, ensure patient safety and reduce pain,” said Dr. Rivera.

As word gets out about interventional methods of controlling and avoiding pain, the goal is for patients to ask for it – instead of opioids – by name, and for primary care physicians and specialists alike to refer patients to an interventional pain management specialist.

This lesser-known area of medicine is a key to solving the opioid crisis, and will, to use the president’s words, prevail.

 

 

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