MDNews - Greater Boston

Physiatrist Marc Adams, DO (left), and Christopher Stowe, MD, pain management specialist, review the results of a patient's diagnostic imaging. By working together, the physician team of Drs. Kanaly, Adams and Stowe develops the best treatments for conditions of the spine and neck. t he physica l a nd emotiona l sides of chronic pain." Getting patients into treatment sooner is one goal the team shares. "There are many relatively simple things patients can do to improve if they currently have a problem," says Dr. Adams. "The longer patients wait, the more di‰cult it becomes to treat them. Even if a problem is short-lived and self-limited, there are things that can be assessed and treated to help prevent recurrences." Dr. Stowe concurs. "One problem we see is that patients often go years without seeking proper treatment a nd unnecessa rily live in significant pain before coming to us," he says. "The chances for success are much higher when a patient is seen early. It's like putting out a fire while it's still in the ash tray, instead of trying to put out a whole house fire." But many factors play a role in a patient's reluctance to seek treatment, including the fear that any intervention will inevitably lead to surgery. That is not always the case. "Surgery is typically the last resort," Dr. Kanaly says. "Our triage system is able to engage those patients in need of urgent surgery and quickly get them the care they need." Meanwhile, several leading-edge inter- ventional therapies can o•er significant improvement without surgery. "The most common injury we treat is neck and lower back pain," Dr. Stowe explains. "We are able to o•er patients a tremendous number of interventional procedures that can significantly reduce their pain. These include epidural ste- roid injections, radiofrequency ablation, trigger point injections and spinal cord stimulators, all the way to vertebroplasty, which is used to treat people with vertebral compression fractures. "We also o•er radiofrequency ablation, in which we interrupt the transmission of pain from the back and neck to the brain so that, even though the area is still painful, the patient doesn't feel it. This can last for up to a year, allowing the patient to continue with an active life. "We are always looking for the most recent developments in interventional pain management so that we can bring a sense of normalcy to our patients' lives." If it is determined that surger y is required, there a re some innovative procedures that ease recovery. "Back surgery is constantly improving, and we are now able to o•er minimally invasive options that speed recover y with less pain," Dr. Kanaly says. "We also have a perioperative medication protocol that helps relieve the surgical pain with fewer narcotics." Dr. Adams' expertise leans toward less- invasive therapies based on his osteopathic medicine, physical therapy and neurosci- ence background. "Patients want less invasive and safer treatments," he says. "My use of osteo- pathic medicine allows me to approach the patient as a whole so that improving overall health is more the objective, rather than eliminating a specific symptom, which is often the e•ect rather than the root of a problem. With that approach, many other conditions can improve, as well, not just musculoskeletal problems." The key message the physicians would like to get out is that treatment options are available and that people who are su•ering should seek them out early. "My advice to anyone who is living in pain is to come and see us sooner rather than later so that we can begin to put them on the road to recovery and allow them to get their life back," Dr. Stowe says. Fo r m o re i nfo r m a t i o n a b o u t th e Spine Center of Saint Anne's Hospital, p l e a s e c a l l 5 0 8 - 6 8 9 - 3 4 0 0 o r v i s it saintanneshospital.org. ■ M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S S O U T H O F B O S T O N / R H O D E I S L A N D ■ 2 016 1 3

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