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Chronic Pain Relief
Many people with chronic pain become frustrated when medical examinations
show no apparent cause. Their doctors prescribe medication, physical
therapy, massage, even surgery -- all without lasting results. This
is because medical diagnosis traditionally presumes that pain is the
result of tissue injury, conveyed to the central nervous system by healthy
nerves.
But in fact, there are three entirely different kinds of pain, and each
requires its own specific treatment.
1. Pain caused by ongoing injury to tissue, such as an unhealed fracture,
or ongoing inflammation, such as rheumatoid arthritis. This is usually
treated with surgery or anti-inflammatory drugs.
2. Psychogenic disorders such as severe depression. These are treated
by medications and counseling.
3. Neuropathic or Radiculopathic Pain, a large category of persistent
pain which typically occurs with no obvious cause. This puzzling type
usually comes from a malfunction in the peripheral nervous system, with
various manifestations: low back pain, tennis elbow, repetitive strain
injury, whiplash, frozen shoulder, fibromyalgia, and others. This is
the kind of pain we target at iSTOP.
Neuropathic pain cannot be "cut out" by surgery; medications
only mask it temporarily. The painful part must be desensitized by relieving
irritation at its source -- typically at the nerve root.
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