Pain Management Clinic
The Pain Management Clinic sees children and young adults with a variety of long-term painful conditions. Some of the conditions we treat in the clinic are:
- Recurrent abdominal pain
- Extremity pain
- Chest pain
- Back pain
- Pain that results from nerve injury, rheumatologic conditions and cancer
Most patients have a primary care physician and a specialist who have been evaluating and managing the condition from a global standpoint. Our focus is primarily on the specific pain aspects of a problem. After your child has been referred to the pain clinic, you will first be speaking with our secretary and one of our advanced practice nurses, who will introduce you to the clinic.
The clinic takes a multidisciplinary approach. We realize that the best treatment of pain in children involves more than just a pill or an injection -- the child in pain is a whole person, not just a hurting body part. Further, pain affects the family's whole life, as well as that of the child. Often behavioral medicine techniques are extremely effective in controlling pain and reducing the stress caused by the pain.
Our physical therapist assesses the effect of pain on the body's movement and strength, determines how posture has changed and may be making pain worse, and what exercises will help restore the body to optimal function. We have found that physical therapy often does more than nerve blocks and medication to relieve a number of painful conditions.
Finally, our pain physicians have training and experience in assessing and treating pain in children and are responsible for the patients' overall care plan. They may prescribe medication or perform nerve blocks or other procedures if needed.
For the occasional patient who needs intensive inpatient treatment, we have admitting privileges to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
