An estimated 1 in 5 Australians suffer persistent pain, which is defined as pain that continues for more than 3 months
Different types of pain include:
Acute pain which is usually of short duration and the result of surgery, injury or other short-term problems.
Severe persistent pain persists despite attempts to diagnose and treat an underlying cause. There are many conditions that may lead to persistent pain, such as shingles, amputation, severe burns, spinal cord injury, low back or neck injury.
Cancer pain may be acute and or persistent.
When pain is brief or short-term, it acts as a warning for the body to seek help. However, when pain never goes away, becomes severe and persists month after month despite any causes being treated or excluded, it may lead to drug dependence and have psycho-social implications.
Procedures that may be useful in managing chronic pain include:
- Lumbar Sympathetic Blocks
- Facet Joint, Sacroiliac Joint and Periradicular Nerve Blocks
- Epidural Blocks
- Percutaneous Neurotomy
- Spinal Cord Stimulator Implants
- Occipitital Nerve Implants
- Intrathecal Pump Implants
- Botox injections
Rheumatology
Rheumatology is a branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis and treatment of rheumatic diseases. Rheumatologists deal mainly with immune related disorders of the musculoskeletal system, soft issues, autoimmune diseases, vasculitides, and connective tissue disorders.
Common conditions for which you may need to see a rheumatologist include arthritis, ankylosing, spindylitis, gout, fibromyalgia, systemic erythomastsis, and pain disorders affecting the joints and bones.
Dr Raj Anand is an expert in pain medicine and rheumatology has interests in non-inflammatory based musculoskeletal pain – chronic low back pain, osteoarthritis, hypermobility syndromes, chronic widespread pain, fibromyalgia, central sensitivity syndromes and pain in the elderly.
Pain Management
Eastern Suburbs Pain Clinic is a specialist chronic pain management service based at The Prince of Wales Private Hospital. Each member of the team is a highly skilled chronic pain management specialist with many years experience working in both public hospitals and the private system.
Chronic pain is a complex problem that is different for everyone who struggles with it. For this reason the Eastern Suburbs Pain Clinic team are drawn from a broad range of disciplines.
In adopting a multi-disciplinary approach to pain management, Dr Raj Anand and Dr Abhilasha Sharma aim to address the underlying problems causing the pain and hope to return each person to a functional lifestyle.
What to expect:
Initially you will see one of our medical specialists. They will examine you and assess your pain, which will include talking about how the pain impacts on your life. Following this they will look at medical and non-medical options and may refer you to other members of the team.
The medical specialist you see will also discuss your case with the rest of the team and decide whom else you might benefit from seeing. We find that working with several of the team at the same time is the best way to get the best outcome for you. In our experience chronic pain is best dealt with from this ‘multidisciplinary’ approach. There is also a significant amount of research that supports this way of working.
It is likely that you have had pain for quite some time and have most likely seen a range of other professionals and services. It is also likely that the pain has had an impact across many aspects of your life. Rest assured, however, that there are many things that can happen to improve things, and there are many things we can do to help across the full range of problems you are experiencing. Sometimes it may can a while, but in our experience things can and often do improve in your life even though you have pain. For example, we offer a wide range of treatments for medical interventions, medications, physiotherapy, psychology, and psychiatry, or any combination of these.
We are happy to see people with workers compensation and motor vehicle accident claims. We have extensive experience helping people who have claims in these areas.
If you are not covered by one of the above schemes, and wish to be seen as a private patient, you will need a referral from your general practitioner for your initial appointment to see a medical specialist.