New Discovery About Chronic Pain
My 17 years as a Family Doc treating patients with chronic pain has taught me that there is a pink elephant in the room!
The proverbial “Pink Elephant” is the patient’s experience of chronic pain.
……it’s there but the doctor doesn’t see it!
The patient sits and explains their symptoms, the pain is here, goes there, comes on with this, goes away with that. This pain often controls their life, prevents work, ruins relationships, goals and aspirations.
In other words, these souls are looking and hoping for a solution. The more they speak about the problem the more unempowered they become.
The traditional treatments often don’t work for many people: Tylenol, Advil, prescription drugs, Physiotherapy, Massage Therapy and Chiropractic Therapy. The Pain Specialists often come up short when all their treatment strategies are exhausted.
So often, many here the advice, “you have to live with it”……. AKA a patients nightmare
THIS IS THE STORY I HEAR EVERYDAY.
The new angle of treatment with mindfulness practice, meditation, expressive writing and other cognitive behavioural therapy techniques along with the trusted exercise program is good but there is a GAP in knowledge.
My years of acupuncture, dry-needling and now trigger point injections has taught me about a NEW DISCOVERY on the physical plane of the body that is responsible for the PINK ELEPHANT.
The GAP in KNOWLEDGE is this:
- As we AGE, endure STRESS, experience INJURIES or have SURGICAL SCARS our bodies TIGHTEN UP
- The FASCIA or CONNECTIVE TISSUE that surrounds our MUSCLES, ORGANS and JOINTS and EXTENDS onto our TENDONS, LIGAMENTS and BONES TIGHTEN UP
- THE FASCIA SQUEEZES THE SMALL PERIPHERAL NERVES within this sheet of tissue that stretches from HEAD TO TOE so REDUCING BLOOD FLOW to these nerves.
- THESE TINY SUPER-SENSITIZED NERVES are SCREAMING as PAIN is EXPERIENCED with STRESS, MOVEMENT, POOR POSTURE, PRESSURE or for NO APPARENT REASON at all.
The TREATMENT for TIGHTNESS is to RELEASE THE FASCIA and MUSCLES, take the pressure off the LITTLE NERVES and KICK START THE HEALING PROCESS.
When we release the fascia with the muscles the pain subsides or resolves and the patient’s function with quality of life improves for many.
I coined up the term ADVANCED TRIGGER POINT INJECTIONS as my treatment goes beyond the classical teaching of trigger point injections where the doctor injects local anesthetic into the muscle bands or knots known to release the tightened myofascial (muscle-fascial) tissue.
THE NEW DISCOVERY is appreciating the fascia runs from head to toe and holds the pain in a locked focal muscle state. The key is to open the lock with the trusted medical needle. Often successful results only come by treating not only the painful trigger point but the adjacent areas where tightness lurks in the background holding the pain in place.
You may say, “ah, but what are you injecting?” Any local anesthetic will do, but you only need a drop in each area. It’s not the local anesthetic that maintains the outcomes as it is removed from the body in 1-2 hours. The results start to accumulate over the 4-6 week program until the balance of released tissues over weighs the tightened painful tissue.
A new world of possibility is now here for the treatment of pain on a global scale. A simple treatment that takes minutes to complete by any trained physician with a good understanding of anatomy and physiology can safely bring relief to many suffering patients. My audit of 85 cases shows a 77% maintained good to excellent result over 7 months*.
There’s no longer a need to have the pink elephant in the room.
We are no longer in the dark.
Resolution of pain is possible for some*.
CALL and SCHEDULE your APPOINTMENT!
604-888-8325, or through our website at www.integratedhealthclinic.com
Dr. Wayne Phimister MD
Family Physician and Assistant Clinical Professor, UBC
Dr. Phimister will be joining the Integrated Health Clinic team starting January 4th, 2019!
*Disclaimer: results are exceptional and not expected with all patients.
