If you feel like conventional medical treatments tend to be generic, you’re not alone. Statistics play a huge role in healthcare, with many therapies based on average patients and bell curves.
Yet, there are always exceptions that may boil down to things like your genetics, body chemistry, and even the precise ways you suffer injuries. Sometimes, treating a one-of-a-kind pain condition with statistical averages is not the best approach.
Dr. James Nassiri and our team at Westside Pain Specialists take a contemporary approach to care called precision medicine to match pain treatments to the unique characteristics of your body. Instead of standard responses based on the case histories of others, we target your pain management with personalized evaluations and therapies.
Targeting your pain with precision medicine may deliver effective results with better success, fewer side effects, and more. Here’s how the process works to help you live a pain-free life.
It’s a simple concept, building treatment around the individual characteristics of a patient and their conditions, but it’s only been possible in practice with advances in the understanding and testing of genetics considered alongside the environments and lifestyle factors unique to you.
While the label “precision medicine” is new, the concept weaves through the history of medical care. Blood transfusions are an example of this, since your body’s unique conditions dictate the best standard of care.
When it comes to precision medicine that targets pain, here are some of the primary concepts that guide the way we evaluate and treat you and your pain condition.
Rather than a specific focus on pain, we consider all aspects of the pain experience, including factors like:
Each person has their own response to pain that may have aspects in common with others, though still experienced through a unique set of conditions and responses.
Yes, pain hurts, yet it sources from several processes. Identifying the mechanism of your pain can be crucial to successful treatment. Four types of pain processes include:
Treating one type of pain with the wrong approach may result in little relief.
Like testing for blood type, precision medicine seeks to pinpoint specific elements of your biology to develop accurate treatment plans. This can include diagnostic imaging, sensory testing, and even genetic identification of certain conditions and tendencies.
Virtually every aspect of your life can have an influence on how you perceive pain. Contact us at Westside Pain Specialists to learn more about precision medicine and how it can help you. Book your appointment by calling our nearest office today. We’re located in Beverly Hills and Rancho Cucamonga, California.
