Comprehen­sive Pain Recovery

There are different types of pain. Some pain is acute, which means it’s usually short-lived and happens suddenly after an injury, accident or as a side effect of a health condition. Other pain is chronic, which means it’s something you’ll always have to manage. And some pain happens out of the blue and sticks around longer than you’d like. The first step to managing pain is to figure out what’s causing it.

What to expect at your first appointment

When you come in to see us, the first thing we’ll do is talk with you about your pain. We’ll start by asking a few questions, like:

• What’s your level of pain on a scale of 0 to 10?
• How would you describe your pain?
• Does your pain happen at certain times of the day or night, during specific activities or all the time?
• Do you have pain in one part of your body or in several areas?
• Do you have any other symptoms besides pain?
• Is your pain making you stressed, anxious or depressed?

Then, we may do a physical exam or neurological exam to help us confirm what’s causing your pain.  

Meet Our Comprehensive Pain Recovery Team

Because pain can affect so many areas of your body and your life, you’ll often have healthcare providers from several different specialties. This personalized team provides comprehensive care that targets your specific needs. You might see:

• Pain management specialists.
• Integrative medicine specialists.
• Primary care providers (PCPs).
• Pain psychologists.
• Behavioral health specialists.
• Physical therapists.
• Occupational therapists.
• Nurse practitioners.
• Social workers.

Once we know what’s causing your pain, it’s time to talk about treatment options. We’ll want to know if anything has worked for you in the past and what hasn’t brought relief.  And while we usually can’t make all pain go away completely, we can help you manage it to lessen the effect it has on your life.

Depending on your unique situation, your provider might recommend:

• At-home remedies: Sometimes, pain caused from injuries can be treated at home with the help of rest, ice, compression and elevation (RICE method). Over-the-counter pain medications like acetaminophen (Tylenol^®) can also help with mild to moderate pain.
• Behavioral therapy: When pain doesn’t go away, it can be hard to focus on or manage other important aspects of your life. Even the stress from having pain can contribute to pain signaling. Our pain psychologists, psychiatrists and therapists specialize in evidence-based therapies for pain such as cognitive behavioral therapy. Behavioral therapies can decrease both pain and stress and enhance your response to other pain therapies you’re using.
• Lifestyle changes: We might suggest certain lifestyle changes that’ll make lasting impacts on your pain levels like improving sleep, exercise, nutrition and incorporating alternative therapies such as yoga, meditation and mindfulness.
• Medications and injections: Depending on what’s causing your pain, our providers may prescribe steroid injections, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and other medications to help alongside other treatments.
• Ketamine infusion therapy: Our team offers low-dose ketamine infusions for appropriate candidates. This program is offered alongside our other pain recovery programs and isn’t offered as an independent/single service.

In many cases, we may combine different treatments to get the best results. And if one treatment isn’t working as you’d like, we can try out other options. Whatever your experience has been with pain in the past, our goal is to make sure we find something that works for you so that you can manage your symptoms more effectively and find relief.

Follow-Up Care

Throughout your treatment, we’ll monitor your progress and adjust your care plan if we need to. Our team offers a variety of services to help you recover from pain, which allows us to modify our approach and plan with your input. Sometimes, we may need to use a more intensive approach, and other times, you may not need to follow up for many months. And if you reach a point where treatments are no longer needed, we’ll help you develop a solid self-management plan to make sure that you stay on the path to recovery for the long-term.

Taking the Next Step

Living with any kind of pain can wreak havoc on your world. Acute or chronic, pain can rule your life and be all you can think about. But it doesn’t have to be. If you’re ready to find relief, Cleveland Clinic’s experts are here to help. Our skilled providers can help you manage your pain — even on your worst days.