What is Pain Management?
Pain management, or pain medicine, is a growing medical specialty dedicated to treating acute, sub-acute, and chronic pain. The goal of pain medicine is to improve patient’s quality of life and help them return to everyday activities without surgery.
The Spine and Pain Institute of New York treats many different types of pain including complex pain syndromes. Our medical providers work with your referring physician including physical and occupational therapists, oncologist, and psychiatrist or psychologist, to provide effective pain management.
Patient Pain Evaluation
One of our pain management specialists will begin care by reviewing your medical history and evaluating your physical and neurological condition in order to pinpoint the source of your pain. An in depth discussion of your pain includes its location(s), duration, and intensity. The doctor may ask you to rate your pain on a scale of 0 to 10 with 10 being the worst pain possible. Alternatively, you may be asked to notate on a picture of the front and back of body where you feel pain and designate its type (i.e. burning, sharp) and intensity (1 through 10). Further evaluation may require a CT scan, MRI, or other imaging study to further evaluate your pain and diagnose its cause. Many types of minimally invasive spinal injections provide valuable diagnostic information such as a Medial Nerve Branch Block.
Treatment Options
Depending on many factors, such as the type of pain and your general health, there are numerous options for treating your pain. Some patients are surprised to learn that a treatment that previously failed to provide relief may be effective when combined with a multi-treatment approach. Treatment options include medications including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, muscle relaxants, anti-depressants, anti-seizure drugs, and opioids may be used alone or in combination, Interventional pain procedures are used as both a means of diagnosing the actual source of pain and decreasing or eliminating the pain, Physical therapy, psychology/psychiatry, and surgical referrals.
Depending on the cause of your pain, a specific plan is developed to try to reduce and manage symptoms. Treatments are specific for each patient, depending on their unique complaints, physical findings, radiological study results, and response to previous injections. We recognize that patients and their pain are different, and as such, approaches may vary.
Types Of Pain
Let's live pain free.
Is Pain Management Right for You?
Depending on many factors, such as the type of pain and your general health, there are numerous options for treating your pain. Some patients are surprised to learn that a treatment that previously failed to provide relief may be effective when combined with a multi-treatment approach.
Our specialists treat complex pain issues. There are many different physical and neurological disorders that contribute to pain, and we treat all types of pain including:
Is Pain Management Right for You?
Pain is a complex problem that requires treatment and management by a pain medicine specialist. Millions of people suffer from pain every year at great personal cost. According to the American Academy of Pain Medicine, “… pain affects more Americans than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined.”
If you find that you cannot safely control your pain with over-the-counter medications, or have failed to find relief from other treatments or practitioners, you should consider consulting with a pain management physician. For most patients, interventional pain management procedures can treat or reduce pain, allowing the patients to regain function, and thereby improving their quality of life. This reflects our practice philosophy.
In many ways, The Spine and Pain Institute of New York treats similar patients to an interventional spine practice. Our patients commonly present with sciatica, arthritis of the neck or back, or disc pain and obtain good relief and avoid surgery. The Spine & Pain Institute of New York also treats other pain syndromes using interventional procedures.
Our specialists treat complex pain issues. There are many different physical and neurological disorders that contribute to pain, and pain management can provide you more advanced care specifically aimed to control your pain. Examples of pain-causing disorders treated by pain management specialists include:
● Arthritis of the spine
● Back and neck pain
● Cancer pain
● Cervical (neck) radiculopathy
● Disc herniation
● Failed back surgery
● Occipital headaches, other types of headache Nerve entrapment syndromes
● Sciatica pain (low back/lumbar radiculopathy)
● Shingles (post-herpetic neuralgia)
● Spinal stenosis
● Trigeminal neuralgia or other facial pain
● Pudendal neuralgia
● Vertebral compression fracture
Practice Policies
We are pleased you chose The Spine and Pain Institute of New York for the diagnosis, treatment and management of your pain. To acquaint you with our office policies, we provide the following information.
*If your insurance requires a referral for a visit to a specialist, you must obtain this referral from your Primary Care Physician prior to your visit.
INITIAL CONSULTATIONS
Please bring the following relevant information to your consultation.
Photo ID
Insurance Information
Referral*
Diagnostic Studies & Reports (MRI/X-Rays)
List of Medications
INSURANCE & BILLING
We accept most insurance programs and their subsidiaries. If we do not participate in your insurance plan, please contact Billing to find out if other arrangements are possible. Text us via Klara using the messaging option to the bottom right of this page! Just detail your concern or question, and a member of the team will reply via return text message or phone call. Insurance co-payments are due at the time of arrival. We accept cash, checks and credit cards.
APPOINTMENTS
If you are a new patient, please arrive 15 minutes prior to your appointment to allow time to register. If you are running late or need to reschedule, please contact us as soon as possible to make us aware. Unfortunately, if you are more than 30 minutes late for your appointment time, we will have to reschedule.
PROCEDURES
If you are scheduled for a procedure or plan on having one in the future, please read the attached important instructions to follow prior to a procedure.You will be called prior to your procedure and notified about the following information as well.
MEDICATIONS & REFILL REQUESTS
Please discuss your medication needs, including refill requests, with your provider at the time of your appointment. Medications should be taken only as prescribed. Please do not request early refills of your medications. Patients are responsible for lost or stolen medications and prescriptions once they leave the office.
AFTER HOURS EMERGENCIES
Our regular phone lines are transferred to an answering service after normal business hours. Please proceed to the nearest emergency room for after-hours emergencies.