Deciphering Chronic Pain and Pain Medicine

Primary care medicine is at the forefront for listening and responding to patients who suffer from chronic pain. Yet due to the myriad of potential causes and difficulty to treat, a regular office visit can become much more complex once a patient states he or she has pain. How do clinicians determine when the pain is physiologic vs psychologic in origin, and how can the potential for abuse of pain medicine be minimized? Host Dr. Brian McDonough speaks with Dr. Adrian Popescu to determine what clinicians can do to uncover these issues and properly address and manage pain symptoms. Dr. Popescu is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Popescu is also Pain Medicine Program Director at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center.