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Are You in Pain?


Pain Management is a branch of medicine employing an interdisciplinary approach to ease the suffering and improve the quality of life of those living with pain. Since there are numerous causes of pain, an approach using multiple modalities is necessary. A pain management spe-cialist is a physician who has completed specialty training in evaluation, diagnosis, and treat-ment of all different types of pain. This includes a wide spectrum of disorders including acute pain (pain that occurs immediately after an injury), chronic pain (pain that lasts several months), cancer pain, as well as any combination of these. As knowledge in the field of medicine grows, it has become increasingly more important to have physicians with specialized skills to treat these conditions. This requires detailed knowledge of the causes of pain, understanding of specialized tests for diagnosing painful con-ditions. Pain management doctors are skilled at prescribing appropriate medications for vary-ing pain problems, as well as performing advanced procedures including nerve blocks, spinal injections, and other interventional techniques to treat pain. As an increasing number of new and complex medications, procedures, and technologies become available every year, pain management specialist have unique training to utilize these advancements to safely and effec-tively help their patients. Physicians specializing in pain management also play a key role in coordinating additional care with modalities such as physical therapy, massage therapy, chiro-practic therapy, psychological therapy, and surgical specialists as part of the multi-disciplinary approach. In searching for a pain management specialist, it is important to look for someone who has appropriate training and experience to treat the pain condition you or your loved one may be suffering from. The two factors that are crucial in identifying an appropriately trained pain management physician are fellowship training and board certification. Most fellowship programs are associated with anesthesiology residency programs, but there are also programs associated with physical medicine and rehabilitation as well as neurology. These programs consist of at least one year of training in all aspects of pain management after the completion of the residency program. After a physician becomes board certified in their primary specialty, and after completing a fellowship, they then become eligible for subspecialty certification in pain management.

If you or your loved one suffer from a pain condition you should know that there is help out there. Your pain management physician will work closely with you to develop a plan that is unique to your condition. Be sure to share information such as the cause of your pain (if you know it), how intense it is, how long it has lasted, and what makes it worse or better. Your plan will probably include a combination of modalities on which you will report back in order to make adjustments and find the best treatment for alleviating your pain.

Undertreatment of pain is common. There is a cause for the pain, and if not addressed, it can become more difficult to manage over time and lead to a chronic condition. If you experience pain that doesn’t seem to go away, speak with your primary care provider about being referred to a pain management physician. Pain physicians work closely with primary care providers to effectively treat pain conditions. Spine surgeons, neurologists, chiropractors, cancer doctors, as well as other specialists frequently work with pain physicians and can also help coordinate a referral. Patients can also call our office directly at (208) 263-9757 to make an appointment.

BIO: DR. ISPIRESCU is double board certified in Pain Management and Anesthesiology, trained with top experts in the field at UC San Diego. As founder of Idaho Pain Clinic and co-founder of Pain Clinic of Spokane, Dr. Ispirescu and his team have developed one of the re-gion’s only true multi-disciplinary programs, incorporating minimally-invasive pain manage-ment treatments, along with medication management, nutrition counseling, physical therapy, chiropractic care, massage therapy, and psychological services. Dr. Ispirescu is passionate about looking at the whole person when treating pain, utilizing the latest and most advanced therapies with a holistic, integrative approach.


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