Analgesic therapy is a specific branch of anesthesia that aims to reduce pain. But how does so-called pain therapy work? We talk about this topic with Dr. Fabio Intelligente, anesthesiologist and coordinator of the Analgesic Therapy Service for chronic pain of the Anesthesia Unit and the Day Surgical Hospital in Humanitas.
“The aim of analgesic therapy is to improve the patient’s quality of life through the best possible management of pain. The presence of pain in fact has a great impact on everyday life, limiting personal, working and relational life,” said Dr. Intelligente.
How do you proceed?
“First of all, the causes of pain must be identified and, once the diagnosis has been made, the most appropriate options will be evaluated in order to provide the patient with the most suitable solution to control pain in a more or less definitive way, taking into account the risks and benefits. In the composition of the clinical picture it is good to keep in mind how much pain the patient feels as well as the characteristics of the pain itself: a fundamental element in choosing the type of analgesic therapy.
The options can be multiple: from supplementation to a balanced diet, from physical activity to rehabilitation, but also infiltrations or advanced procedures of neuromodulation, neurostimulation and neurolysis to “strike” the nervous structures involved in the genesis and transmission of pain in a targeted way,” explains the specialist.
Acute and chronic pain
“This approach can help to alleviate acute and chronic pain, characteristic of very common conditions such as osteoarthritis, low back pain, cervicalgia, discopathy, lumbar sciatica.
The specialist has the task of defining a kind of tailor-made recipe that, in addition to controlling pain, promotes a correct lifestyle that helps prevent the onset of pain. Controlling pain means reducing or eliminating medication and, consequently, the side effects associated with it.
Thanks to analgesic therapy, it is possible to manage any type of pain, depending on the cause, and thanks to a multidisciplinary approach, the best possible solution is sought for each individual patient.
The patient will be able to rely on the anesthetist specialized in analgesic therapy to manage and control the pain in the best possible way, in order to allow rehabilitation and functional recovery as quickly as possible and in maximum safety, and to guarantee the patient a good quality of life”, concluded Dr. Intelligente.
