The Pain Behavior Assessment

Your doctor may request that you undergo a Pain Behavior Assessment before continuing with your pain management.  Chronic pain causes us to adjust to every circumstance in our life in an attempt to reduce our pain.  It does not take long for us to create new habits and often times; these habits become counterproductive and can eventually lead to more problems.

The pain reduction strategy being considered by your doctor might actually reduce most or all of your pain, however chronic pain patients often act in one of two ways which can either lead to new injuries or limit the effectiveness of the procedure being considered.  You can either:

      Keep doing the bad habits, which you may or may not be aware of or
Try doing old tasks the same old way and forget that the structural problems still exist.

In either case, we at Par Pain Management want to make sure that you get the maximum benefit from the procedures you are about to undergo.
In addition, we also want to make sure you are aware of all the pain management skills, and that you can apply them from a “least-to-most” strategy.  Some individuals have difficulty going off their pain medications in preparation for a trial or the final procedure.  Learning these strategies can increase your chances of success.
Finally, the procedures you will be undergoing can be both physically and emotionally taxing.  Your chronic pain has most likely challenged you so it’s important to better understand you current status and how we could best address any potential needs or problems.