TCO NEWS

Pain relief is an important topic as one in four people experience some type of pain. Not all pain is the same. Interventional Pain Anesthesiologists, unique skills enable them to do more than prescribe medication; TCO employs understanding and problem solving to diagnose and treat pain at the source.

“The International Association for the Study of Pain came up with a consensus statement,” says Judith Scheman, PhD, program director of the Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. “Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience. I think that’s extraordinarily important. When we focus only on the sensory aspect, we fail to appreciate the suffering component of the pain, which is important to recognize because pain is not what occurs at the periphery.”

The first step in pain relief is scheduling an appointment with your doctor so that he may determine the cause of your pain and learn which pain management approach is the most effective for it.

In the end: Seek medical help for your pain as soon as it becomes a issue in your life. “We aren’t guaranteed lives without pain,” says Scheman. But when chronic pain starts to limit your day to day function in the world, then it’s a problem that needs to be addressed.

ALLEN B. SHOHAM, MD
Board Certified Diplomate of The American Board of Pain Medicine & The American Board of Anesthesiology
Tri-Cities – Richland, Kennewick and Pasco Washington

KENNETH E. BREEDEN, DO
Board Certified in Pain Management by the American Osteopathic Association
Board Certified in Family Medicine by the American Osteopathic Board of Family Physicians
Tri-Cities – Richland, Kennewick and Pasco Washington