Planning a comprehensive and multidisciplinary pain management program for a cancer patient is vital for effective results. Patients responses to treatment have greatly improved over the last decade, and patients are now are expected to live longer and have longer remission rates. However, residual pain is often supplemented with these successes. At Southwest Spine and Pain Center, we emphasize the importance of treatment to minimize cancer activity and pain, while at the same time avoiding the shift from acute to chronic.
The goals of a cancer pain treatment program are:
- Reduce pain/ greater control over pain
- Physical improvements: ie range of motion, strength, sleep
- Psychological improvements: ie mood, depression, anxiety
- Return to vocational and avocational activities
- Reduce risk of worsening condition
Southwest Spine and Pain Center physicians accurately assess each cancer patient’s symptoms to identify a correct prognosis and compliance to treatments. According to research, 80 percent of cancer patients can manage their pain with simple oral analgesics. The remaining 20 percent of patients can use supplementary interventions for pain reduction. In more rare cases, invasive anesthetic or surgery may be necessary.
Traditional cancer treatment often relies of radiation or chemotherapy. While there are a number of treatments that are effective to different kinds of patients, the most important factor to be correlated with treatment is lifestyle changes. Weight loss, exercise, alcohol cessation, and smoking are parameters that patient’s can control to improve not only their quality of life, but their cancer pain as well. Research says that people who smoke have an average life expectancy that is 10 years younger than non-smokers. Smoking is also associated with higher pain levels, anxiety, and depression. Cancer patients who smoke are vulnerable to poor responses to cancer therapy.
At Southwest Spine and Pain Center, our team highlights the significance of lifestyle changes to greatly affect treatment. Poor health behaviors will not help patients feel better, but rather worse. If you or someone you know suffers from cancer pain, the very least you can do is change your bad habits. For more information on the kinds of treatments Southwest Spine and Pain Center offers for cancer pain, contact a specialist at any of our Utah pain clinics.
If chronic pain is impacting your life, don't wait to schedule an appointment at Southwest Spine and Pain Center. With three locations and growing, the pain management specialists at Southwest Spine and Pain Center are dedicated to helping those who suffer from chronic pain live the life they want to! To schedule an appointment, visit our locations tab!
The advice and information contained in this article is for educational purposes only, and is not intended to replace or counter a physician’s advice or judgment. Please always consult your physician before taking any advice learned here or in any other educational medical material.
©Southwest Spine and Pain Center, 2014
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