Help! I Hurt All Over!

The prevalence of chronic pain in the United States is alarming — more than 20% of the adult population reports ongoing issues with pain, and 8% of adults experience high-impact pain. While many conditions drive chronic pain, only a few lead to widespread pain.

At Summit Pain Alliance, our highly skilled team of pain management specialists has an in-depth knowledge of the various diseases, injuries, and conditions that can lead to pain. Of the many problems we treat, some involve widespread pain, in which you hurt all over.

Here’s a look at some of the more common culprits when it comes to all-over pain.

Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia affects about four million adults in the US, or 2% of the adult population. While fibromyalgia is a complex disorder, one of the hallmarks of the condition is widespread pain throughout your body. This pain is typically nagging and is often accompanied by joint stiffness, as well as:

• Fatigue
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Sleep issues
• Cognitive problems (memory, concentration, etc.)
• Headaches

Researchers are unclear as to what causes fibromyalgia, but there are effective ways to manage the disorder, and we offer them at our office.

With the goal of relieving your pain and improving your quality of life, we offer:

• Acupuncture 
• Medications
• Nerve blocks
• Pain-relieving injections
• Spinal cord stimulation
• Stem cell therapy

We also recommend lifestyle changes that can go a long way toward better managing fibromyalgia, such as exercise and nutrition.

Arthritis

Arthritis is a catchall term for more than 100 different joint diseases, all of which lead to pain and discomfort in your joints. More than 54 million adults have doctor-diagnosed arthritis in the United States and struggle to varying degrees with painful joints.

One of the leading forms of arthritis is osteoarthritis (OA), which is a degenerative disease in which the cartilage in your joints breaks down, leaving your bones to rub together painfully. As a wear-and-tear disease, OA typically strikes your hardest-working joints, such as your:

• Knees
• Facet joints
• Hips
• Shoulders
• Hands
• Elbows
• Ankles

Of course, OA can affect any of your joints, but these represent the most common areas.

If you have rheumatoid arthritis, this is a condition in which your body mistakenly attacks your joints, namely those in your hands, feet, wrists, elbows, knees, and ankles.

Whatever form of arthritis you have, our goal is to relieve the all-over pain. We accomplish this through the same techniques we listed above under fibromyalgia, as well as:

• Cortisone injections
• Nerve blocks
• Regenerative medicine
• Radiofrequency ablation
• Joint bracing
• Viscosupplementation

The bottom line is that we are pain management specialists and, as such, we work with you to find a solution for your widespread pain. To learn more about your options, please contact one of our two locations in Santa Rosa or Petaluma, California.