What Is a Pain Clinic?

Pain clinics are also referred to as pain management clinics and specialize in treating pain associated with injury, illness or surgery.

Purpose

• Patients with chronic pain resulting from terminal or debilitating conditions that need intensive pain management are often treated at pain clinics. Patients with short-term acute pain management needs may also be seen at a pain clinic.

Specialty Training

• Pain medicine doctors have graduated from medical school and completed further training in pain medicine and often anesthesiology during their residency.

Diagnosis

• Pain medicine doctors will review a patient's medical files and consult with a patient's primary care physician. If needed, additional diagnostic procedures such as bone scans, ultrasounds or MRIs may be ordered to pinpoint the cause of the patient's pain.

Treatment Options

• Pain clinics offer many treatment options for pain management including medication, acupuncture, physical therapy and surgery.

Conditions Treated

• Pain clinics treat patients who are suffering from inflammatory diseases, bone and joint pain, nerve pain, severe migraine headaches and pain caused by cancer treatments.