With advancements in modern technology and medicine, patients today have a lot more pain management options than their parents did. Different types of pain require different types of treatments. The type of treatment you’ll need will depend on whether you are suffering from pain in a muscle, nerve, ligament, tendon or other area of the body. A pain management doctor can help determine the source of your pain and offer pain management treatments that target the specific problem areas in your body. In essence, there are five sources of musculoskeletal pain in your body. Each is discussed briefly below.
- Muscles: Muscle pain is typically caused by straining or pulling a muscle. This type if pain is the shortest in duration, lasting only 3-4 days in most cases, and the easiest to treat – aspirin or another anti-inflammatory pain reliever will typically do the trick.
- Nerves: This type of pain can originate in spinal nerves or peripheral nerves in the body. Contrary to what you may have heard, damaged nerves do not actually cause a lot of pain; rather, they produce tingling or numbness in areas of the body associated with that nerve. The pain you feel from damaged nerves actually derives from the structures around the nerve, and these must be treated in order to manage that pain. The type of treatment you will need depends on which nerve or nerves in the body are damaged.
- Ligaments: Some pain originates in the ligaments or joint capsules where bones meet. Ligament pain is typically caused by trauma inflammation of the joint which may occur as a result of that trauma. Treatments for this type of pain may include aspirin, the anti-inflammatory steroid prednisone, or other pain treatment options.
- Muscle-Tendon Joint: Most muscles in the body are joined to the bone with tendons. A tendon injury causes inflammation and pain with movement. To manage pain associated with this type of injury, the inflammation must first be treated with aspirin or anti-inflammatory pain relievers, such as NSAIDs. If you are still experiencing pain after the inflammation subsides, physical therapy and other treatments may be recommended by your pain management doctor.
- Muscle-Bone Joint: Some muscles in the body are attached directly to the bone without a tendon. This type of pain is treated in much the same way that muscle-tendon joint pain is managed, with anti-inflammatory pain killers and physical therapy being the most common types of pain treatment.
For more information about the different types of painful conditions or the wide range of pain management options available at Summa Pain Care, call 623.776.8686 today and speak with one of our friendly associates who will be glad to schedule an appointment with Dr. Paul Pannozzo for you.
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