September is Pain Awareness Month, an appropriate time for Paradigm Outcomes to highlight the complexities of pain conditions and how injured workers are affected not only by the pain symptoms, but by pain treatments. Recognizing the realities of complex and chronic pain, as well as understanding the full cycle of the pain process, are critical components in addressing effective treatment outcomes that can increase productivity in the workplace and restore quality of life as a whole.

The Effects of Pain

As a result of complex and chronic pain, 13% of the American workforce experienced productivity loss that resulted in billions of dollars lost at the corporate level. As these numbers indicate, many injured workers understand too well how pain conditions affect not only individuals, but families as a whole.

It is important to acknowledge that pain is a normal sensation that protects our body. One should not necessarily equate pain with a need for prescription treatments.

Generally, pain results from an acute injury. For many, whose injuries respond well to initial treatment, the pain is only temporary and they can return to life as they know it. For many others who don’t experience relief, however, acute pain progresses into complex pain, which is marked by symptoms such as insomnia, atrophy of the injured area and a fear of movement. As the pain becomes more difficult to manage, lasting longer than six months, it is considered chronic pain.

At the chronic pain stage, injured workers experience a number of biological, psychological and social markers that compound the effects of chronic pain. Depression, insomnia, weight gain and addiction to opioids are common results of chronic pain, further debilitating a sufferer and affecting their role in everyday life, both personally and professionally.

Pain Awareness Month

As more and more Americans suffer from debilitating pain conditions, increasing awareness has become the key to helping a pain epidemic from continuing to affect injured workers and their families.

While many treatment options are available, often times a unilateral treatment approach is utilized, resulting in a number of complications that greatly diminish the efficacy of pain treatment. This is often due to inaccurate diagnosis and a fundamental misunderstanding of the pain process and how it affects individuals. Many sufferers, for instance, are inaccurately assessed and diagnosed using primarily subjective symptom report, resulting in inappropriately pharmacy-focused treatment and leading to progressive disability and drug dependence.

In other cases, there is a rush toward interventional procedures that may be effective in a subset of patients, but are often used on people not meeting the criteria “because nothing else worked.” Heavily marketed treatment approaches fail to acknowledge:

1. The biopsychosocial model starts at the point of patient assessment.
2. The biopsychosocial model should inform and influence treatment recommendations and decisions.
3. Evidence-based treatment criteria and objective clinical outcome measurements support the value from medical interventions.

As an advocate for an evidence-based, multidisciplinary treatment approach, Paradigm Outcomes addresses not just the biological effects of pain, but the emotional, behavioral and social aspects of the condition, as well. Paradigm’s teams ensure accurate and thorough diagnoses, the proper medical treatment, injured worker and physician engagement, coordinated care, and regular monitoring and intervention. This method achieves the best possible outcomes for those experiencing complex and chronic pain conditions so the entire family can return to a better quality of life.

Learn more about how Paradigm Outcomes can assist you in managing your complex and chronic pain claims by visiting our website and LinkedIn pages.