ENGAlgology (pain management) is a scientific field that deals with both chronic pain of all kinds and severe pain of unidentified origin. Pain is a personal experience and require personalized treatment approaches. We offer various types of highly professional treatment in "Kundawell Jurmala" Medical center.
Pain medicine or algology is a relatively new branch of medicine that strives to understand and alleviate chronic pain associated with various illnesses. Pain is one of the most common types of physical suffering encountered by people. The occurrence of chronic pain is increasing in the modern age due to several factors. The increase in average lifespan has led to higher incidence of chronic diseases that cause pain, as well as a larger number of invasive manipulations and surgeries performed, which may cause lasting pain. A frequent cause of injuries and associated pain syndromes is traffic accidents. The knowledge and understanding of pain has increased as well. Rapid socioeconomic changes and increasing stress levels, in combination with expectations of ubiquitous physical comfort create rising demand for the treatment of pain.
Scientific studies about chronic pain in Europe indicate that 19% of the adults suffer from chronic pain for an average of seven years, with the pain intensity at grade 5 or higher according to numerical pain score (graded from 0 to 10). Chronic pain has social, psychological, economical implications. Local injury gives rise to pain perception, and the transmission of this pain signal to the brain creates the subjective painful sensation, which is a symptom of illness or trauma. It affects the mental state of any person, leading to negative feelings and suffering with a wide range of emotional changes that create the psychological dimension of pain phenomena. Each pain sufferer reacts to his or her situation differently, according to the individual sensitivity and personality, affecting the relatives, caretakers, employers, and the entire society through medical costs and lost working ability.
- The most common types of chronic pain are back pain, headache, joint
pain, neck pain, as well as functional abdominal pain syndromes, bladder pain
syndrome, and chronic pelvic pain syndrome.
- The main task of pain medicine is to provide care for patients of
chronic pain syndromes through biopsychosocial approach and multimodal
treatment.
- The care for pain patients is a multidisciplinary teamwork, where the
team includes not only the algology specialist, but also rehabilitation
professionals – a physical therapy doctor, ergotherapist, and also provides
access to psychotherapy services.
Acute pain associated with surgery is treated by anaesthesiologist, using a range of regional, perineural, and perimedullary techniques. In the case of chronic pain, these techniques are used by practicioners of invasive algology, who are typically anaesthesiologists, and their methods are an integral part of pain therapy. The invasive algology manipulations are performed under imaging control using X-ray or ultrasound equipment. The manipulations are diagnostic and therapeutic. Other approaches used for pain treatment include pulsed radiofrequency and continuous radiofrequency procedures.
The most common invasive procedures are:
- epidural injection of steroids for
the treatment of chronic back and/or limb pain, which poorly responds to conservative
therapy in the cases of herniated disc, protrusion with/without radiculitis, stenosis
of spinal canal, pain syndrome after spinal surgery, epidural fibrosis, degenerative
disc disease;
- facet joint block in cases of back
pain without radicular symptoms;
- invasive therapy of sacroiliac joint
pain in cases of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and after injury.
- The right to a life free of pain is one of the great aspirations of human
society, and our duty is to help in providing it, by using the most suitable
conservative or invasive therapy at the right time for the right patient.