It?'s not easy dealing with chronic pain, and medical professionals often resort to prescribing their patients opiates, which can become addictive and lead to more problems.
The Chronic PainTEAMS program through UC Health challenges specialists, through a video chat system, to come up with alternative ways to help real patients with their pain. The program is free of cost and some advice given includes physical therapy, diet changes, steroid epidural injections, exercise and acupuncture.
Here to talk about this program and ways to help those struggling with pain are family physician and primary care researcher in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Nancy Elder; anesthesiologist and pain management specialist at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Dr. James Fortman; and family physician at UC Health Primary Care, Dr. Leila Saxena.