The month of September is Pain Management Month.

 

Pain Management Provider for Guthrie County Hospitals Chris Hanson says that there are a few different kinds of pain that people may feel, with acute, chronic and visceral being the predominant types seen. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio that chronic pain can be caused by nerve, musculoskeletal, and auto-immune issues.

 

Hanson shares that by the age of 40, 85 percent of people have some form of degenerative disc disease in their lumbar area, meaning that they will also experience lower back pain from that issue. He explains his answer for when he’s asked if certain careers or fields of work more commonly lead to chronic pain.

 

“As a general rule, what I tell people is that our bodies are meant to work. Our bodies are meant to take a load. People ask me repeatedly, ‘What causes the pain that I am experiencing?’ And my standard answer that I give people is gravity and birthdays. Gravity, because gravity puts a load on our bodies. Birthdays, because we know longitudinally as we age, everything degenerates, whether it’s your discs in your back, whether it is joints within your hips, your shoulders, your knees, or in your back, or whether it’s your lungs, your liver, your kidneys, your brain.”

 

Hanson mentions that his office in Guthrie Center mainly treats chronic pain issues, and that checking in with your primary care provider before going to a specialist is always a good idea, because they may be able to work with you to get things treated without taking that next step. He adds that his office not only takes patients on referrals from their primary provider, but also self referrals for those who have a history of pain issues.