Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience. Each person will perceive pain differently based on their personal, cultural and religious beliefs, and prior experiences with pain. Pain is what the experiencing person says it is. Your clinical features (onset, location, duration, and characteristics of your pain) are unique to you. They are your body’s way of reacting to injury or illness. Everyone reacts to pain in different ways. You are the only person who knows what your pain feels like.

Pain management is a comprehensive approach to diagnosing, treating and controlling pain. It uses a multi-modal and individualized treatment plan to coordinate safe and effective options that can address the physical, emotional, social, and psychological aspects of pain.

Components of a multimodal pain management plan may include:

• • MINIMALLY-INVASIVE INJECTION-BASED THERAPY
  • PHYSICAL THERAPY AND REHABILITATION
  • MEDICATIONS
  • PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELING
  • SOCIAL SUPPORT
  • OTHER COMPLEMENTARY APPROACHES

A pain management doctor is a physician with special training in evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of all different types of pain.

Most patients are referred to Bayou Pain and Spine by their primary care doctor or their surgeon. We also see “self-referrals” — all by appointment only. We do not see “walk-ins.”

After completing a detailed history and a thorough physical examination, we may order additional tests such as radiographic images (including x-rays, MRIs, and CT scans) or additional neurological tests to include Electromyography (EMG). Chronic pain is a complex process that requires a combination of treatments in order to achieve the best results. A multimodal treatment plan tailored to the individual patient will be discussed and initiated that may include medications, possible minimally-invasive procedures, and/or physical therapy. Pain management requires an active joint effort from both the patient and the healthcare team.

At Bayou Pain and Spine, we utilize interventional approaches (injections) when appropriate to diagnose and treat painful conditions. For a full list of the conditions we treat, please visit our Pain Conditions section.

Diagnostic and therapeutic injections require precise placement of specific pain medications near or around the structures that are suspected to cause pain. These procedures require specialized techniques and imaging equipment to assure accuracy during the procedure and safety for our patients.

In addition, we provide surgical interventions (if appropriate and indicated) such as spinal cord stimulators and vertebral augmentation/kyphoplasty.

Our multimodal approach also includes the use of medications, physical therapy, and self-management techniques with the goal of improving your functional activity level and quality of life, while ultimately reducing your pain. Sometimes we may enlist the help of a pain psychologist to better assist with the psychological impacts of being in chronic pain.