Pain Management

Most pain management practices focus on highly lucrative interventional procedures and when these are not particularly successful they add opioid- type medications. Unfortunately, research shows that opioid-type medications generally reduce the pain symptoms by no more than 15% (reducing a pain level of 8/10 down to 6.8/10). The combination of conservative doses of ibuprofen 200 mg and Tylenol 500 mg actually achieves better results.

Research also shows that an integrated pain medicine practice achieves better results, especially chronic pain which involves central sensitization. We focus on a combination of physical and emotional therapies along with medical treatment. If short-term stronger medications are needed, we prefer Suboxone which has a much better side effect profile than other opioid-type medications. Suboxone generally causes less tolerance and less constipation.

Would you like a second opinion regarding your symptoms or treatment? Dr. Carter completed a fellowship in pain management via Temple University and continued to work at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh for five years. He developed arguably the best pain management resume in the city. This included being certified by the American Board of Medical Specialties, the International Spine Intervention Society, the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, and the World Institute of Pain. He is currently enrolled in the Andrew Weil Center for Integrated Medicine fellowship program.

Note:
There is no good-quality research showing benefit for the use of opioid medications for noncancer chronic pain beyond a few weeks or months.

Many people try to taper opioid medications and have the onset of a significant number of symptoms similar to their original pain. This is actually a withdrawal syndrome and not proof of benefit with the medication.