East Michigan News

MidMichigan Medical Center - Gladwin issued the following announcement on Sept. 3. 

Did you know that more people suffer from pain than cancer, heart disease and diabetes combined?

Nearly one fourth of Americans suffer from pain annually, making pain the major driver of primary care physician visits.

There are various factors that cause and create pain, such as:

• Family history. You may be more likely to develop arthritis and some other conditions if you have a family history of the disease/diagnosis.
• Age. The risk of many types of diagnoses and pain injuries increases with age.
• Gender. Women are more likely than men to develop rheumatoid arthritis.
• Previous injury. Some people who have experienced previous injuries have pain related to those injuries throughout their lives.
• Obesity. Carrying excess pounds puts stress on joints, particularly your knees, hips and spine.

Pain rarely comes without side effects, the majority of which have a significant impact on your life as well as the life of those around you. Some of the side effects of chronic pain include:

• Irritability
• Anger
• Depression
• Difficulty concentrating
• Loss of mobility and muscle weakness

The MidMichigan Health Spine and Pain Program diagnoses all kinds of pain. Dr. Bertram and Dr. Barakat are board certified and fellowship trained in pain medicine. They will create a balanced treatment program for each patient that incorporates a variety of modalities including physical therapy, minimally invasive interventional procedures and medication management, when appropriate.

Original source can be found here.

 Source: MidMichigan Medical Center - Gladwin