Pain management training is an increasing concern among medical professionals due to significant increases in patient cases involving some form of chronic, debilitating pain. Such training is not always prevalent in the curriculum at universities preparing medical professionals for practice in their chosen professional. For that reason, medical personnel often seek training outside the traditional curriculum. Training will often involve learning the treatment algorithms, how pain affects the different components of the body, the different stages of pain, the medications and supplies to support treatment, how to manage the pain of patients, and how to manage safety, risk and complications associated with pain management. During the learning process, medical professionals will often have the opportunity to practice these skills hands-on with patients suffering from pain as well as with cadavers.
Injections are a major portion of what medical professionals will learn during pain management training. Aside from learning the associated anatomy and proper medications for various pain symptoms, they will learn specific types of injections used for various components of the human body. These injections will usually include botox injections, lower back injections, small joint and large joint injections, and various trigger point injections. In addition, medical professionals will also learn how to administer specialty injections as well as related therapies used in conjunction with injections to relieve pain. Therapies may include viscosupplemention therapy for knee pain or prolotherapy for chronic pain, for examples.
Examination and diagnosis is an extremely crucial part of pain management treatment. Dedicating a large portion of time to these procedures, pain management training programs will equip medical professional with the tools to properly examine and accurately diagnose patients with chronic pain symptoms. Most programs will cover the technology used as well as how to conduct a wide-variety of tests to help with the diagnostic process. Tests covered may include, but are not limited to the Hoover’s test, Spurling test, Shobar test, Milgram’s test, Fortis test and others. Medical professional will usually gain hands-on experience conducting such examinations and diagnosing patients.
Perhaps most importantly, however, pain management training will teach medical professionals how to incorporate pain management into their clinical practice. Despite significant advances in neurobiology and pharmaceuticals, the implementation of those findings in clinical settings has not kept pace globally. Likely a reflection of inadequate training and knowledge dissemination in traditional university curriculum, pain management training centers attempt to fill this gap in knowledge and practice. Overall, the objective is to help medical professionals understand their patient's needs in relation to chronic pain, both psychological and physical as well as to address those needs adequately.