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Dr. Pohl describes a holistic approach to treating chronic pain.
Dr. Pohl:
Chronic pain is a very complicated process as I am sure you know, and what we have found in treating chronic pain is that part of the experience of pain is the way the body feels the pain. So, let’s say it’s a crush in the area of the back. The pain signal is processed up through the spinal column, hits the pain-processing center in the brain, and then some response is mediated. It’s about 20% of the pain experience. The rest is the perception of pain and a person’s response to pain, which is very variable, and that’s what we call suffering.
We found in the course of treating people with chronic pain that simply responding to pain, which has to be done, is missing the boat. So what we really are looking at is treating suffering, and it makes the most sense to treat the experience of suffering from a variety of different angles holistically.
I am a medical physician. I believe in the use of medications judiciously, but really, spiritual condition, emotional health, mental approach to the thoughts about the experience of pain and, in addition to the physical experience of pain, all sum up to make the whole process of pain modifiable in a healthy way.
About Dr. Mel Pohl, M.D.:
Dr. Mel Pohl, M.D., is a Board Certified Family Practitioner. He is the Vice President of Medical Affairs and the Medical Director at the Las Vegas Recovery Center (LVRC), the only private, freestanding, medically managed inpatient detoxification and addiction treatment facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Visit Dr. Pohl at the Las Vegas Recovery Center