If you ignore your pain it won’t always go away.  Sometimes it will make things much worse.  Did your son, daughter in law, spouse or bowling buddies just remind you of that last week?  Well, they are not wrong.  Reuters Medical reported in December of last year on a British Geriatric Society study titled A Longitudinal Study of Knee Pain in Older Men.  The Journal reports” chronic knee pain is still considered a fairly benign disease by many, an ‘unavoidable’ consequence of ageing. This passive acceptance may be unnecessarily exposing older people to disability and serious co-morbidity (source: http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/12/05/ageing.aft188.abstract?sid=767c8821-4b55-46b5-839f-79d45be14e1e)  The lead author of this project, Marlene Franzen, is an associate professor of physiotherapy at the University of Sydney in Australia.  “Chronic knee pain is not a ‘benign’ disease,” she told Reuters Health. “It does lead to a greatly increased risk of falls and developing mobility disability, and therefore increased risk of early mortality.”  Her team’s conclusion:  … patients should see their doctors for an effective and safe pain management strategy, and a physiotherapist for a recommended physical activity program … (http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/20/us-knee-pain-idUKBRE9BJ0XT20131220)  The Physiatrists at Michigan Spine and Pain could not agree with her more.

If you are a current patient of ours and knee pain develops as a new condition it is important to let your care team know details like onset, duration and severity of your symptoms.  If knee pain is an on-going issue and something about your condition changes we can help you address the issue before pain begins to limit your everyday activities or mobility.

When you are experiencing chronic pain it can be helpful to have a supportive community.  Sometimes you friends and family lack the answers you need in your search to understand and conquer your pain.  There are some really great resources on-line that we want to make sure you are aware of.  While not everything on the web is vetted by our medical leadership team and we always will encourage you to communicate with your doctors in person, here are some web-based resources, presented as both educational videos and written resources, that you might find insightful and informative.  You are not alone in your journey with pain management.

The American Chronic Pain Association has a collection of videos on subjects that range from the definition and meaning of chronic pain to the experiences of farmers, ranchers and veterans living with pain. http://theacpa.org/videos

The American Headache Society hosts professional as well as patient resources on its web site www.americanheadachesociety.org.  You can find Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, a publication specifically for patients at this link: www.headachejournal.org/view/0/index.html  If it interests you, we especially encourage you to listen to some of the podcasts listed in the menu on the left of the screen.  Some of the podcast subjects include:

• Cluster Headache – Acute and Prophylactic Therapy
• Interview with poetry author and migraine sufferer, Pam Kress-Dunn
• Migraine and Obesity: Epidemiology, Mechanisms, and Implications

www.painresearchforum.org is the web address for the Pain Research Forum.  Primarily targeted to researchers and practitioners in the fields of clinical pain medication and research and development, this web site is open to the public for those individually interested in understanding some of the scientific and academic conversations occurring amongst pain management professionals.  Don’t let article titles like “Blockade of Toll-Like Receptor 4 Attenuates Morphine Tolerance…” or “Hyperexcitable C nociceptors in fibromyalgia.” Throw you off.  This web site offers engaging and intellectually stimulating research-based analysis form leading experts in the very specialized community of pain medicine.

Finally, www.pain-topics.org offers a deep variety of resources, reports, event announcements and treatment option information in a user friendly format.