Research shows that multidisciplinary treatment is the best approach for treating chronic low back pain (CLBP). Unfortunately, many people that experience chronic pain conditions, including low back pain, often receive only medication management instead of integrated treatment. In fact most people seeking help for pain management are prescribed opiates and in most cases this is all that is offered.  The CLBP problem is serious. In one study I reviewed, published by von Korff and colleagues in the December 15, 2007 Issue of Spine Journal, it stated:

CLBP is not only a serious problem for our healthcare system, but it also has a significant socioeconomic effect. The major costs of CLBP are the consequence of loss of productivity, work absenteeism, and disablement.

In the United States alone over $100 Billion a year is spent on chronic pain management. In addition there are over 100 million people in this country that live—or have lived—with chronic pain. One major research study stated that over 90 percent of people receiving treatment for chronic pain receive opiates. At a conservative 10 percent estimate over 10 million people who are probably taking those opiates, are experiencing substance use disorders.

Why does our healthcare system push a medication only approach? I think cost containment is a motivating force as well lobbying and very effective marketing by the pharmaceutical companies. Unfortunately, this may work in the short term, but the long term consequences of under-treated or mistreated chronic pain is an extremely high cost to pay. If people receive adequate and immediate multidisciplinary treatment, their prognosis for a higher quality of life is improved and the cost savings much higher.

The outcome of poor treatment interventions with chronic pain was demonstrated to me over and over when I was working with the California Workers Compensation system. Many of the patients I worked with were routinely denied treatment protocols called for by qualified pain management specialists. Not only were things like physical therapy, hydrotherapy, acupuncture, chiropractic, pain-focused psychotherapy, etc. not allowed, but even medications were often denied, including antidepressants. Unfortunately, I had one patient attempt suicide when his medication was cut off and he went into a severe depression.

To learn more about my views on using a team approach for chronic pain management check out my article The Need for Multidisciplinary Chronic Pain Treatment that you can download for free on our Ariticles page.

If you would like to be skill trained in a multidisciplinary chronic pain management model that also includes relapse prevention stratagies for people with chronic pain and coexisting disorders including addiction we have an Addiction-Free Pain Management® Certification Training scheduled  at Valley Forge Medical Center and Hospital on June 10-12. It’s not to late for people to sign up and in fact by mentioning this Blog I will make sure you get a $20 discount for this training. To get this discount you must call Ellen at (916) 575-9961 and ask her for the discount. For other upcoming trainings you can check out our Calendar page.

You can learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System at our website www.addiction-free.com. If you are working with people udergoing chronic pain management and want to learn how to develop a multidisciplinary plan for managing their chronic pain and coexisting psychological disorders including addiction effectively please go to our Publications page and check out my book the Managing Pain and Coexisting Disorders: Using the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System. To purchase this book please Click Here.

To listen to a radio interview I did conducted by Mary Woods for her program One Hour at a Time please Click Here to go to this interview.

To read the latest issue of Chronic Pain Solutions Newsletter please click here. If you want to sign up for the newsletter, please click here and input your name and email address. You will then recieve an autoresponse email that you need to reply to in order to finalize enrollment.

For the past 26 years I’ve worked with patients living with chronic pain who also developed coexisting psychological disorders, including addiction, as a result of living with debilitating chronic pain. One of the tools that I was able to adapt was Terence T. Gorski’s Denial Management Counseling for Addictive Disorders. I modified his denial management system to work with other coexisting disorders including chronic pain.

My first publication in this area is the Denial Management Counseling for Effective Pain Management Workbook. This workbook was designed for people who have experienced significant problems related to living with chronic pain, but who honestly don’t believe—or don’t want to believe—that their self-defeating decisions and behaviors are undermining what could be an effective chronic pain management plan. This process is an important component of the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System.

You can check out our Articles page to download my free article From Denial to Effective Pain Management to learn more about denial and chronic pain management; including a look at the 12 Common Pain Mangement Denial Patterns.

You can learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System at our website www.addiction-free.com. If you are working with people in chronic pain management or are living with chronic pain yourself and have any resistance or denial and want to learn how to develop a plan for helping to identify and manage denial please go to our Publications page and check out my book the Denial Management Counseling for Effective Pain Management Workbook. To purchase this book please Click Here.

We have two more APM™ Certification Trainings scheduled this Spring—one in Sacramento California in May and the one at Valley Forge Medical Center and Hospital in June. It’s not to late for people to sign up and in fact by mentioning this Blog I will make sure you get a $20 discount for either training. To get this discount you must call Ellen at (916) 575-9961 and ask her for the discount. Also, for these and other upcoming trainings you can check out our Calendar page.

To listen to a radio interview I did conducted by Mary Woods for her program One Hour at a Time please Click Here to go to this interview.

To read the latest issue of Chronic Pain Solutions Newsletter please Click here. If you want to sign up for the newsletter, please Click here and input your name and email address. You will then recieve an autoresponse email that you need to reply to in order to finalize enrollment.

The anticipation of an expected pain level can influence the degree to which you experience your pain. In some cases, when your anticipatory level of pain expectation is lowered, your brain responds by influencing special neurons. This renders your brain less responsive to an incoming pain signal and your sensation of pain decreases.

This is the rationale for utilizing biofeedback and meditation as pain control methods. In any event, both ascending (pain signals coming from the point of injury to the brain) and descending nerve pathways (signals from the brain to the point of injury) will influence or modify the effects on your body.

Unfortunately this phenomenon can also worsen your perception of pain. When you live with chronic pain you hurt. Doing certain things can make you hurt worse. So you come to believe that these things will always cause you to hurt. In other words, you associate those things with pain.

You believe that every time you do those things, you will have pain. Because you believe that you are going to hurt, you activate the physiological pain system just by thinking about doing something that you believe will cause you to hurt. This is called anticipatory pain.

You expect that something will make you hurt. That in turn activates the physiological pain system. This makes you start hurting even before you begin doing whatever it is that you believe will cause you to hurt. All you have to do is to start thinking about doing that thing.

To learn how to address anticipatory pain in a positive manner please check out my article Coping with Anticipatory Pain that you can download for free on our Ariticles page.

If you would like to be skill trained in a treatment model that teaches how to identify and address the psychological/emotional components of pain for more effective chronic pain management we have an Addiction-Free Pain Management®Training scheduled this Spring at Valley Forge Medical Center and Hospital in Noristown PA in June. It’s not to late for people to sign up and in fact by mentioning this Blog I will make sure you get a $20 discount for this training. To get this discount you must call my partner Ellen at (916) 575-9961 and ask her for the discount. Also, for this and other upcoming trainings you can check out our Calendar page.