What is NESPTM
The
chronic pain experience is complicated. This
is in stark contrast to acute pain (touching
a hot stove) where once the source of the
pain is gone, the pain slowly fades away and
there are usually no further consequences.
In contrast, chronic pain continues long
after the original injury has occurred.
Chronic pain over time
changes a person many ways. Physically, it can be debilitating. Muscles can
atrophy (shrink) due to non use, strength decreases and the nervous system
undergoes changes that makes the perception of pain last long after the
original source of pain has gone.
Emotionally, the changes
can be even more devastating. Severe depression due to pain and the
inability to participate in everyday activities like playing with children,
shopping and driving often occurs. Every year thousands of chronic pain
patients commit suicide due to their unrelenting condition. Marital problems
often develop because of the pain patient’s inability to have intimacy or
sexual intercourse with their spouse. Financial crisis due to the inability
to work is another common source of marital problems. The bottom line is
that chronic pain destroys lives unlike any other medical condition.
Chronic pain afflicts up
to one third of the American population! And cost our society 100 billion
dollars per year. It is estimated that 45 million people suffer from
headaches on a regular basis spending an astounding 4 billion dollars per
year on over the counter headache remedies. Hundreds of millions more are
spent on prescription drugs for headaches. Low back pain “the mother of all
chronic pains” affects an amazing 70-85% of the population at some point
during their lives.
The NESP™ approach to
ending chronic pain is a system that was developed by Gregory A. Smith, MD,
QME. The system was developed over a 12-year period. It involves treating
the six aspects of the chronic pain experience: NESP is an acronym. The N
stands for Nutrition, the E for Emotional/Psychological, the S
for Social/Financial and the P for Physical.
The problem with
conventional medicine is that it focuses mainly on the physical aspect of
chronic pain, leaving the other aspects of chronic pain untreated. The
results are obvious; millions of people still in severe chronic pain after
having operations or being on narcotics and other drugs for several years.
It is rare that physical
treatment alone totally eliminates pain. The fact that chronic pain has
reached epidemic proportions and continues to worsen is evidence that
conventional physical treatment is failing. Obviously, a physical approach
exclusively, does not work.
By the same token,
alternative medicine has also failed chronic pain patients. Lack of
standardization of treatments, and supplements, lack of legitimate
scientific studies and ill-willed individuals looking to make fast money on
a hurting population; has flooded the market with remedies that simply don’t
work. This is truly unfortunate since many alternative remedies are very
effective. Patients become confused, discouraged, angry and most importantly
they remain in pain. Supplements, cleanse programs, herbal remedies and
multiple other alternative healing arts have merit but what is right for
each patient is unbelievably confusing. Everywhere you look someone is
advertising a cure-all treatment that takes away all pain, depression,
insomnia, etc.
What is the bottom line?
There is not one treatment that works for everyone but there is the right
combination of treatments that works for everyone. This is the heart of
the NESP™ approach to ending chronic pain. NESP™ programs utilize a series
of conventional (blood work, MRIs, etc.) and non-conventional (Iridology,
live blood cell analysis, etc.) diagnostic tools to determine the real
underlying cause or causes to that particular patient’s condition. After
this is established a customized treatment plan is developed for the
patient. Specific goals are set and then the treatment plan is executed.
During treatment (which can last for a few weeks or up to a year), progress
is monitored regularly and adjustments are made so the treatment is always
customized and never static.
To see if you are a
candidate for NESP™
see
Who is a candidate for NESP™.
What is chronic pain?
Chronic pain is defined as pain that persists longer
than 3 months. Unlike acute pain (pain that signals something is wrong and
needs to be corrected; such as touching a hot stove or chest pain from a
heart attack), chronic pain serves no positive purpose. The longer chronic
pain persists, the more difficult it becomes to treat. This is for 2 main
reasons. First chronic pain causes changes in the nervous system that often
makes the perception of pain worse and can spread to other parts of the body
that were never originally affected. Many chronic pain patients who may have
persistent low back pain may start to suffer from neck pain or leg pain over
time despite the lack of injury at the new location.
The second main reason chronic pain becomes more
difficult to treat over time is due to the collateral problems that arise
from the pain. Problems such as depression, insomnia, headaches, weight gain
and memory loss cause the entire chronic pain experience to be that much
more unbearable.
Suicide is the worst collateral effect of chronic pain.
White men, white women, and white workers’ compensation men with chronic
pain in the age range of 35-64 years of age are twice, three, and three
times as likely, respectively, as their counterparts in the general
population to die by suicide (Clin
J Pain. 1991 Mar;7(1):29-36:
Semin Clin Neuropsychiatry. 1999
Jul;4(3):221-7. The prevalence of major depression in patients with chronic
low back pain is 3–4 times greater than in the general population (Sullivan
et al. 1992).
The alarming facts of chronic pain:
-
Up to 50% of chronic pain patients consider
suicide at some point to end their suffering
-
It costs our society (USA) between 100 and
300 billion dollars per year!
-
Disables more people than cancer and heart
disease combined
-
1 in 3 Americans suffer from some type of
chronic pain
-
It is the number 1 cause of adult
disability in the USA
-
Inadequate treatment, inappropriate
treatment or undertreatment is the norm
-
Low back pain is the 5th most
common reason for all physician visits
This list could go on and
on. What all these statistics reveal is that conventional and alternative
medicine has completely failed to treat chronic pain. What is the answer? I
believe it is integrative pain management utilizing the
NESP™ approach to ending chronic pain.
I'm ready to
make an appointment.
The NESPTM
Approach for Weight
Control
The NESPTM
Approach for Narcotic Detoxification
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Forms
Comprehensive Pain Relief Group
700 N. Pacific Coast Hwy. Suite
203
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Phone 310.798.3334
1-877-PAINMD1 (714-6631)
info@painreliefgroup.com
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Pain Relief Group
All Rights Reserved.
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