Frequently Asked Questions

Pain is an uncomfortable feeling and/or an unpleasant sensation in the body. The presence of pain often is an indication that something is wrong. Pain can appear suddenly or can come about slowly.

Each individual is the best judge of his or her own pain. Feelings of pain can range from mild and occasional to severe and constant. Pain can be classified as acute pain or chronic pain.

Acute pain begins suddenly and is usually sharp in quality. It serves as a warning of disease or a threat to the body. Acute pain might be caused by many events or circumstances, including:

Surgery
Broken bones
Dental work
Burns or cuts
Labor and childbirth

Acute pain might be mild and last just a moment, or it might be severe and last for weeks or months. In most cases, acute pain does not last longer than six months, and it disappears when the underlying cause of pain has been treated or has healed. Unrelieved acute pain, however, might lead to chronic pain.

Chronic pain persists despite the fact that the injury has healed. Pain signals remain active in the nervous system for weeks, months, or years. Physical effects include tense muscles, limited mobility, a lack of energy, and changes in appetite. Emotional effects include depression, anger, anxiety, and fear of re-injury. Such a fear might hinder a person's ability to return to normal work or leisure activities. Common chronic pain complaints include:

Headache
Neck pain
Low back pain
Cancer pain
Arthritis pain
Muscle pain & spasm
Neurogenic pain (pain resulting from damage to nerves)
Psychogenic pain (pain not due to past disease or injury or any visible sign of damage inside)

Chronic pain might have originated with an initial trauma/injury or infection, or there might be an ongoing cause of pain. However, some people suffer chronic pain in the absence of any past injury or evidence of body damage.

More Info (Provided by WebMD):

Dr. Charles Buzzanell treats each patient individually using various procedures and tests to diagnose pain and determine a patient's care needs. He then carefully explains a treatment course and goals for your improved pain management and quality of life.

Patients can benefit from visiting Blue Ridge Pain Management Pain Management Department, even if they suffer from the following:

Back and neck pain, including herniated discs, spinal stenosis, whiplash injury and fibrositis
Complex regional pain syndrome (also known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy or RSD)
Muscle and joint pain, including sacroiliac joint and facet joint arthralgia
Disorders of the nervous system, including peripheral neuropathy pain from diabetes and other causes as well as from shingles.
Pain associated with osteoporosis and vertebral compression fractures

Depending upon its severity, pain might be treated in a number of ways. Symptomatic options for the treatment of pain might include one or more of the following:

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), a specific type of painkiller such as Motrin® or Aleve®
Acetaminophen (such as Tylenol®)
Narcotics (such as morphine or codeine)
Localized anesthetic (a shot of a pain killer medicine into the area of the pain)
Nerve blocks (the blocking of a group of nerves with local anesthetics)
Acupuncture
Electrical stimulation
Physical therapy
Surgery
Psychotherapy (talk therapy)
Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing
Biofeedback (treatment technique in which people are trained to improve their health by using signals from their own bodies)
Behavior modification

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