preview

Symptoms And Treatment Of Pain Management

Better Essays

Introduction
In the United States, pain is the most common reason for patients to seek medical attention. According to an Institute of Medicine report in 2011, at least 116 million people in the United States suffer from acute and chronic pain every year, including up to 80% of the elderly population, affecting more American adults than heart disease, diabetes, and cancer combined.1 The national annual economic cost associated with chronic pain is estimated to be $560-635 billion (or $2000 for each American), spent on medical treatment ($260-300b) and in lost productivity ($297-336b). In 2008, 14% of all federal Medicare expenditures are spent on pain management. Chronic pain is often associated with other co-morbidities such as …show more content…

Unfortunately, these changes can be seen in 64%–89% of asymptomatic patients.8-9 Similarly, shoulder MR imaging of asymptomatic volunteers have shown abnormalities such as partial or full-thickness rotator cuff tears and acromioclavicular osteoarthritic changes, findings typically seen in symptomatic patients.10-12 The frequency of these abnormalities increases with age, and some of these findings may represent expected senescent changes rather than manifestations of clinically relevant disease, bringing into question the relevance of such findings in patients with clinical pain. In addition, in patients with multiple imaging abnormalities, such as multiple bulging, desiccated discs and multilevel facet arthropathy, it can be difficult to determine which, if any, of these abnormalities are the source of pain. As therapy for the patient will be partly dictated by the imaging findings, this lack of

Get Access