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Functional Restoration of Patients with Pain

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Essentials of Pain Management

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Abstract

This chapter will introduce a different group of clinicians who treat pain with a primary focus of improvement in functional mobility of the patients. One of these disciplines is physical medicine and rehabililtation, also called physiatry. Like any other clinician, a physiatrist follows the established algorithms for the diagnosis and treatment of a variety of medical conditions. The same is true for the evaluation and treatment of pain patients. A physiatrist evaluates the pain patient, orders appropriate diagnostic studies, and then treats the patient with appropriate therapeutic modalities including the medication and interventional procedures. One factor that differentiates the physiatrists from other clinicians is their focus of treating the patient as a whole, looking not only at the area of disability but also the patients’ functional capability and the tasks that they are able to accomplish. The ideal model for the treatment of pain is a multidisciplinary approach, meaning that a variety of clinicians from different disciplines address the treatment of complicated pain syndromes. This does not necessarily mean that each individual pain patient will require an elaborate program to receive appropriate care. In fact, many of these patients could and should be able to get adequate treatment at a primary care level. However, when required, a multidisciplinary setting will enable the clinicians to treat pain effectively. This will eventually result in an overall reduction of the number of chronic pain patients in the community. The training curriculum for the physiatrist includes the musculoskeletal system as well as the peripheral nervous system. Combining the findings from a thorough physical examination and appropriate diagnostic studies enables the physiatrist to make the diagnosis and then develop an effective treatment plan. Even though the treatments offered to patients with pain generally follow the similar algorithm, as mentioned earlier the main focus here will be the functional restoration for the patients.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pain Medicine, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Ali Nemat MD (Assistant Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology & Medicine (Physiatry), Director)

  2. Pain Fellowship Program, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Ali Nemat MD (Assistant Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology & Medicine (Physiatry), Director)

  3. University of Southern California Physical Therapy Associates, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Yogi Matharu DPT, OCS (Director, HSC Director, Assistant Professor of Clinical Physical Therapy)

  4. Orthopedic Physical Therapy Residency, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Yogi Matharu DPT, OCS (Director, HSC Director, Assistant Professor of Clinical Physical Therapy)

  5. Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, University of Southern California School of Dentistry, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Yogi Matharu DPT, OCS (Director, HSC Director, Assistant Professor of Clinical Physical Therapy)

Authors
  1. Ali Nemat MD
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  2. Yogi Matharu DPT, OCS
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, Dept. Anesthesiology, Yale University, Cedar Street 333, New Haven, 06520-8051, Connecticut, USA

    Nalini Vadivelu

  2. Brigham & Women's Hospital, Dept. Anesthesia, Harvard Medical School, Francis St. 75, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA

    Richard D. Urman

  3. School of Medicine, Dept. Anesthesiology, Yale University, Cedar Street 333, New Haven, 06520-8051, Connecticut, USA

    Roberta L. Hines

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Nemat, A., Matharu, Y. (2011). Functional Restoration of Patients with Pain. In: Vadivelu, N., Urman, R., Hines, R. (eds) Essentials of Pain Management. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-87579-8_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-87579-8_14

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-87578-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-87579-8

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