Blog

Accidents, especially work related and moving vehicle accidents can spiral anyone who is injured into a new world of chronic pain where the body and the mind are equally effected. The pain can last a life-time. Chronic pain — years down the line the injury has healed of course, but the pain from that injury continues.

Statistics have shown that chronic pain afflicts nearly 100 million people in the United States, more than a third of the population, according to the Society for Neuroscience, the world’s largest organization of brain researchers.

Chronic pain remains misunderstood, misdiagnosed and mistreated. Research suggests that as many as half the country’s pain patients are not getting the proper treatment.

Located in New York State are board certified physicians who may not be able to fully erase the pain, but can reduce the pain an individual feels to a bearable level. MSR doctors can help.

Statistically in the United States alone, lower back pain strikes two-thirds of adults. Chronic pain lingers in about 15 percent of cases, leaving 7 million people partially or completely disabled.

MSR provides referrals to pain specialists in New York in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, and Long Island, that provide the highest quality of care for chronic pain sufferers. These doctors take the time to talk and listen to the patient, with patience and sensitivity, implementing the right treatments necessary to start the healing process and relieve chronic pain.

Workers injured in the workplace are often not taken seriously when complaining of the pain they feel. The are put under a spotlight and targeted when they are unable to perform their jobs to full capacity due to the pain they feel. Pain that goes untreated, can rage out of control causing both mental and physical disability.

Patients suffering chronic pain can no longer just grin and bear it, chronic pain is real, chronic pain is a disease. If a patient doesn’t not receive proper treatment, and the symptoms continue for too long, a patient can spiral out of control. Patients can lose their jobs, their relationships, their lives.

PAIN BY THE NUMBERS	 
  Moderate to very severe pain that has lasted at least six months afflicts 
9 percent of the U.S. adult population, or about 25 million 
people, a new survey estimated. Its key findings:	 
.	
-- In percent of chronic pain sufferers:	 
     Severity	 
Moderate      43%	 
Severe        23%	 
Very severe   34%	 
.	
     Time had pain	 
6 months to a year      10%	 
1-5 years               34%	 
More than 5 years       56%	 
.	
     Type of pain	 
Flares up frequently    61%	 
Constant                39%	 
.	
Cause:	 
Arthritis        37%	 
Back pain        27	 
Headaches         6	 
Other            25	 
Don't know        5	 
.	
Medical care for pain:	 
Ever gone to a doctor            94	 
Now seeing a doctor              61	 
Hospitalized last 12 mos.        11	 
Changed doctors to find relief   22	 
(three times or more)	 
Referred to a pain specialist    22	 
.	
Medications now taking:	 
Over-the-counter pain relievers  63	 
Prescription NSAIDs              29	 
Narcotic pain-relievers          16	 
Antidepressants                   9	 
Trying non-medical therapy       68	 
.	
   Effect of treatment:	 
Pain under control               55	 
Pain still out of control        41	 
.	
   Impact on lifestyle/emotional state:	 
Problems sleeping                68	 
Difficulty walking               53	 
Can't concentrate                42	 
Trouble at work                  34	 
Damaged relationships            26	 
Depressed                        18	 
Feel useless                     12	 
Turned to alcohol                10	 
.	
.	
Note: Excluding cancer-related pain.	 
Source: "Chronic Pain in America: Roadblocks to Relief," January 1999 
report, based on a survey conducted by Roper Starch Worldwide 
Inc. for the American Pain Society, 	 
American Academy of Pain Medicine and Janssen Pharmaceutica.