ain Management Clinic

Managing and Reducing Pain

Our Goals for Every Patient are:

• reduce pain as much as safely possible
• improve functioning and movement
• support and enhance the body’s own inner healing system
• help in the development of any necessary coping skills

Michael Coulson, DO
	Board Certified Anesthesiologist Chief, Department of Anesthesiology Kishwaukee Community Hospital, DeKalb , IL
Jeremiah Loch, CRNA, PhD, DAAPM
	Advanced Practice Nurse Anesthesiology Practitioner Certified in Pain Management (AAPM) Certified in Naturopathic Medicine (ANMA) Certified in Anesthesiology (AANA) Incorporating Advanced Osteopathic Training

Pain Clinic Hours:

Open each weekday from 8am to 4:30pm at KCH on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, at Valley West on Tuesdays. Closed on holidays and weekends.

For more information on the Pain Management Clinic or to schedule an appointment call, (815) 756-1521 Ext. 103568 or (800) 397-1521.

Conditions & Treatments

We provide consultation and treatment for a variety of conditions, including:

• pain with herniated/ruptured discs
• radicular pain – pain in the arms and legs
• back pain
• muscle pain
• lingering post-operative pain
• nerve or neuropathic pain
• cancer pain
• shingles
• reflex sympathetic dystrophy or complex regional pain syndrome
• migraine headaches

Common Treatment Techniques Utilized Include:

• Nerve block techniques, including epidural, nerve root, stellate ganglion, lumbar sympathetic, facet and many peripheral nerve injections. Often times fluoroscopy and CAT scan imaging are incorporated to aid precise needle placement
• Neural therapy
• Prolotherapy
• Manual therapy/osteopathic manipulation
• Trigger point therapy
• Naturopathic medicines, including botanical and herbal medicines, vitamins and minerals and dietary supplements
• Physical therapy and massage therapy
• Psychotherapy and counseling for improving coping mechanisms
• Conventional pain medications
• Implantable drug pumps and spinal cord stimulators

Realistic Expectations

While 100% pain relief is certainly the ideal, such an expectation is frequently not realistic.  Degenerative processes, the mechanical results of certain fractures and injuries, residual effects of strokes, high stress levels, etc, all can leave us with situations where we must be thankful for any measure of pain relief that allows for increased comfort and improved function.

“Fast Track” Versus Consultation Treatment

We see patients on both a “fast track” and consultation-treatment basis.  Some patients have been thoroughly evaluated by their attending physician and are referred for specific pain management procedures. We call these situations “fast track,” meaning we do not have to do a thorough history taking and physical examination or order diagnostic testing.  In these situations we take a brief history and perform certain select specialized pain management injections, make pain medication adjustments, or arrange certain pain management procedures. 

Patients are then referred back to their attending physician for follow-up.

When patients are seen on a consultation-treatment basis, a thorough history of the pain problem is obtained, a physical examination is conducted, and frequently additional diagnostic tests are ordered.  We seek to identify the exact type of pain a person is experiencing and the triggering mechanism responsible for it so we can structure a pain treatment plan.

Pre-Authorization From Your Last Insurance Carrier

If required by your insurance carrier, please obtain pre authorization for any pain or diagnostic procedures.   

Disability Status

As pain management specialists, we are not qualified to do disability determinations.

Billing and Statements

You will receive two statements for pain clinic services.

1. One statement will be from the hospital for services and supplies.
2. The other statement will be from Valley Pain Care Centers and will be for the practitioners’ professional services. This statement will be sent from their billing service in Sedalia , Missouri . As a courtesy to you, your insurance company will automatically be billed for your services.

Our Tendency Towards Health and Healing

Integrative medicine is a relatively new term that implies a holistic approach to healthcare. It rests upon, and strongly embraces, the osteopathic and naturopathic concept that we human beings possess a self-regulating, self-healing system that gives us a natural tendency towards health and healing. The human body has within itself–within certain limits–the capacity for repair, correction and adaptation. As Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, the founder of osteopathy, suggests, “Within our body there is a capacity for health. If this capacity is recognized and normalized, disease can be both prevented and treated.”

In our approach to your treatment, while seeking to relieve your pain, we are also interested in identifying and helping you free up related areas of physical, mental and emotional restrictions that may be contributing to your pain problem, thereby gently assisting your body’s own inner healing system.

In those end-of-life situations where recovery no longer seems possible, we strive to provide supportive and intensive attention to comfort care.

Breathing

The breath of life means exactly what it says.  To breathe is to live.  Life is defined by breath.  We take our first breath when we are born and our last breath the moment we die.  A human being can exist without food for weeks…without water for days…but without air we cannot exist for even a few minutes.  Breathing correctly reduces our stress response.  It allows our autonomic nervous system to become normalized and improves our health.

Experience What Breathing Correctly Can Do For You!

1. Take the deepest breath you have ever taken.
2. Breathe very slowly in through your nose and out through your mouth.
3. Slow deep rhythmic breathing triggers a relaxation response.
4. When you breathe you are producing one part of the relaxation response which begins a chain of beneficial changes in your body.
5. Now try the process once again.
6. Begin breathing in through your nose to the count of four.
7. Now exhale through your mouth to the count of six.
8. Make sure that you are exhaling more slowly than you are inhaling.
9. While you are exhaling, feel and encourage your muscles to relax, letting out all your tension.
10. When you feel tense or under pressure, you will likely experience increased pain.  Know that this kind of breathing can be done anywhere anytime you feel tense or under pressure.
11. An expert in relaxation has recommended taking at least 40 deep breaths a day.
12. Be aware that increased oxygen intake from deep breathing will neutralize the withdrawal symptoms you may experience if you have recently stopped smoking.  In addition, by increasing your supply of oxygen, you will probably be surprised at the increase in your stamina and brain activity.

Attitude

A history of depression and anxiety, difficult personal life circumstances, and the emotional effects triggered in the brain by chronic pain impulses can all lead or contribute to feelings of despondency and self-pity.  Such feelings further feed the cycle of chronic pain.  Occasionally antidepressant medication can be of value.  Ultimately, however, one must not give in to such feelings but seek to foster loving, supportive and positive relationships and live as active and productive a life as possible with a clear sense of purpose.

The Benefits of Incorporating Massage

Muscles automatically contract around any painful site to support and protect the area. If pain is resolved quickly, muscles relax. If pain persists, muscles can become habitually contracted. Sometimes contractions press on nerves causing tingling, numbness, and more pain.

Massage helps by stretching tight muscles and by stimulating the nervous system to relax muscle tension.