Good question. There is acute pain and there is chronic pain. Acute pain is a normal sensation usually caused by some sort of trauma to the body. The feeling of having pain is actually a message from your brain telling you that you need to immediately do something because your body has been harmed in some way. It’s an alarm that you’ve been injured or that there’s something wrong. Pain is what you feel only after your brain tells you that you’re hurting.
These pain signals travel to and from the brain on an interconnected network of nerves which run throughout our body. Tiny receptors on these nerves, called NMDA receptors, collect information from our body and immediately alert the brain if damage or injury has occurred. Your brain’s reasoning for going through this communication process is to get you to act and to act quickly.
How do I know if it’s Chronic Pain?
Ever had that moment when you said, “Shouldn’t my pain be gone by now?” Chronic pain is messaged by the brain very much in the same way as acute pain, but the pain lingers much longer than what you would normally anticipate, such as multiple weeks or even several months. Many chronic pain syndromes are caused by a spike of the NMDA receptors in the brain. In cases of acute pain, the NMDA receptors subside following the usual healing course of the injury and the pain signal is eventually turned off. With chronic pain, the NMDA receptors do not turn off. In fact, they begin to multiply creating an amplified pain signal. This is when you should seek out someone who specializes in treating and managing your chronic pain.
MPC’s Philosophy on Treating Your Chronic Pain
At Michigan Pain Consultants, we know chronic pain. We know that chronic pain is a unique individual experience that cannot be objectively measured like many other medical conditions. We know that the effects of chronic pain extend beyond the physical symptoms and can impact all aspects of your life.
We believe that understanding your pain and treating your pain go hand in hand. We believe that effective pain management involves more than just treating a symptom. It requires a multidisciplinary team of highly trained specialists who not only understand the pathology of your pain, but also understand the underlying symptoms that accompany your chronic pain.
At Michigan Pain Consultants, we are that team of highly trained specialists. We are Michigan’s leading and longest-established multi-disciplinary pain management practice, specializing in the expert diagnosis and treatment of chronic pain conditions. Our physician led team of interdisciplinary pain specialists develop patient centered treatment options integrating interventional and complimentary medicine with onsite physical therapy and behavioral medicine to comprehensively address each patient’s individual needs.
Contact Michigan Pain Consultants Today
Exciting medical breakthroughs occur each day and continue to keep Michigan Pain Consultants at the forefront of providing effective pain management programs in the West Michigan area.
Make an appointment for a new patient consultation with one of their board certified pain physicians. All of Michigan Pain Consultant’s physicians are Board Certified in Anesthesiology or Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and have advanced training and experience in Pain Medicine. You can begin first by visiting online at MyLifeBeyondPain.com, MichiganPain.com, or by calling them at (800)281-3237.
With six locations throughout West Michigan, Michigan Pain Consultants comprehensive interdisciplinary approach to pain care offers patients and providers renewed hope for relief from chronic pain. Chronic pain should be treated like other chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, asthma, or congestive heart failure. Chronic pain requires chronic treatment. The goal of the treatment is to optimize the management of the pain, as opposed to curing the pain.