Pain Management in PM&R

[fzwarrior]

I plan on going into PM&R and have been curious as to what the difference is (if any) in their delivery of pain management from anesthesiologists. I have noticed that pain clinics employ both board certified anesthesiologists and physiatrists. Are patients sent to one or the other based upon their condition, or do they both treat pain symptoms in the same way?

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[PMR 4 MSK]

A board-certified PM&R should be able to do everything the same way as a board-certified anesthesiologist.

Should.

Not all fellowships are created equal. Not all docs are either.

Most docs will tailor their practice to the pt type they prefer. Physiatrists tend to like MSK cases more than anesthesia - limb stuff as opposed to axial pain.

Most pain practices are spine clinics - neck and back pain. Either field should do well with that.

 

[Sivastraba]

I would venture to say that the physiatrist would probably have a better musculoskeletal exam, and would consider other treatment options (ie., PT, modalities, and medications) before pursuing injections. There would probably also be less guess work involved, since we have other tools to rely on such as Electrodiagnostics to pinpoint or cross out certain pathologies in our differential as the source of pain.