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With the rapid aging of the Indian population, chronic pain has been emerging as one of the significant healthcare problems and is likely to aggravate the existing burden. Succumb to a plethora of ailments, irrespective of age and gender, people at some point in their lifetime experience some form of pain.
Since some consider it to be a part of aging, many of them lose hope assuming nothing effective can be done. For such people who are living with excruciating pain for many years, find it debilitating and have an adversely affected day-to-day routine. While in order to alleviate sufferings, it is important to understand about the underlying cause of pain for better treatment modules and outcomes.
As per the data and reports provided in the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), approximately 30% of the World’s population suffers from pain. It is also estimated that about one in ten people worldwide are being diagnosed with chronic pain annually.
The differentiating factor
While acute pain may reasonably be considered to be a symptom of an underlying disease or trauma, decision to choose the right type of pain relief treatment can have long term benefits. On the contrary, a chronic pain is considered to be a disease state itself which is an outcome of intensified acute pain left untreated for long. Depending on the severity, duration of pain and how well a person is able to manage the pain, determines the quality of life of the affected individual, that may also lead to social isolation and reduced activity.
The most common types of pain include –
Pain due to trauma, injury or accident
Musculoskeletal pain that includes pain in the lower back, knees, arthritis, weak bones, neck and shoulder etc.
Neuropathic pain
Post-surgical pain
Pain due to chronic conditions like cancer
A variety of physical, genetic, environmental, psychological, and social factors interact with body mechanism contributing to pain. However, the psychosocial factors play a significant role in the onset of chronic pain in any individual including the physical, psychological and environmental factors.
Physical Factors – Due to stress, inflammation, muscle imbalance (random distribution of strong and weak muscles), injury, post-surgical recovery, poor body ergonomics, congenital conditions, acquired conditions like autoimmune disorder or cancer, poor body functions, muscle overuse among many others.
Environmental and psychological factors – Depression and anxiety for a longer duration can affect he mental health and lead to chronic headaches, body pains etc. Other factors like physical or psychological abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder etc.
It is important to know that most of the chronic pain begin as acute pain, and attributing to the above-mentioned factors, the transition triggers with changes in the affected area. Thus, seeking timely treatment at the right time helps in management of pain in the primary phase (acute condition) thereby stopping the transition to chronic one.
Taking this opportunity of Pain Awareness Month, it is important to raise public awareness around pain and its effective management which is of vital importance in developing the right treatment approach to cure pain.
Choosing the right treatment module
Usually, patients with chronic pain often withhold themselves from activities like exercise, or walking, in order to allow rest and healing time. But on the contrary mild to moderate activity in such patients have actually proven to have effective outcomes in management of further transition of pain.
While most patients with chronic pain are often advised for lifelong medications, injections or surgical procedure, most of them do not find it effective in terms of pain relief. For such patients, the recent advancement in management of pain offers a ray of hope in the form of – minimally invasive Radio Frequency Ablation technique (RFA).
The focus in this procedure is to deactivate the nerves responsible for transmitting pain signals from the affected areas to the brain. Once the pain signals reaching the brain is minimised the pain automatically subsides. This in turn improves the functionality and reduces the medication requirements.
RFA comes as a boon for those patients who do not wish to undergo surgeries or those with co-morbidities who cannot take up the invasive surgeries, or those suffering from post-surgical recovery. Many young patients who refrain from undergoing intervention but seek for minimally invasive options have also started coming forward with the use of this technique for pain relief.
With no requirement of prolonged rehabilitation, RFA provides a safer, effective, and non-surgical alternative, which is done as a day-care procedure under local anaesthesia. Patient undergoing RFA can resume to their normal activities, soon after the procedure and in most cases the nerve cells are regenerated within a year or two, and then if necessary, the procedure can be repeated.
Radiofrequency ablation is used for treating various pains other pains such as those originating from other joints such as those in the neck, lower back, hip and the shoulder, sciatica, pancreatic cancer, neurological pain, tennis elbow pain to name a few. The awareness for this commonly performed procedure in developed countries like UK, US and Europe is now increasing in India.
-Dr. Amod Manocha, Head of Pain Management Services at Max Hospital.
