People with chronic pain face added barriers when accessing medical care.
Spending an hour or more sitting in a car can worsen pain. That's on top of the time, money, and effort involved in traveling for care.
UPMC Chronic Pain Telemedicine reduces in-person medical visits for people with pain. You can access our experts to help manage your pain from your home.
Studies show that the best way to treat pain is with more than one approach. At UPMC, we treat pain in a holistic way.
This includes:
If you prefer remote care, we provide pain management services through video visits when possible.
You may need to travel for some appointments – like in-person injections. But telemedicine works well for other procedures, such as pain assessments or follow-ups.
Since the same doctors offer both online and in-person visits, you receive seamless pain care.
Here are some of the chronic pain services we offer virtually at UPMC:
Lumbar degenerative disk disease is one of the most common reasons for low back pain. This occurs when the cartilage in one or more disks in the spine breaks, due to the effects of aging.
The disks are less able to absorb pressure on the spine, causing:
During a video visit, the doctor will ask you about your symptoms. If they suspect lumbar degenerative disk disease, you'll need imaging tests to confirm the diagnosis.
Or, if you've already had an MRI or other scan at UPMC, the doctor can view those results.
At UPMC, we offer a comprehensive approach to treatment. This helps ensure your recovery is thorough and long-lasting.
Our treatment plan for lumbar disk disease includes:
Many people we see with chronic pain travel an hour or more to access our care.
Our chronic pain telemedicine service helps to reduce these trips, offering the following benefits:
We see people with chronic pain (or pain that has lasted more than three months).
Chronic pain conditions we treat include:
Before your appointment, a UPMC chronic pain team member will call you. They'll ask you about your medical history, including past surgeries, treatments, and diagnoses.
For your video visit, you'll meet with a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, and a pain management doctor. They will ask you detailed questions about your pain and discuss the cause, or suspected cause, with you.
Our telehealth team may decide to refer you for a test, like an MRI.
Or we may have enough information to create your treatment plan. This often involves medicines or shots and non-medical treatments, like physical therapy.
If you need a physical exam to confirm a diagnosis, we'll help you book an in-person visit when it works best for you.
Your care team will continue to monitor you to make sure your treatment plan is working or make any changes to it. If you have questions later, you can call our office any time for a follow-up phone or video visit.
As a major referral hospital, UPMC accepts most major insurance plans.
We suggest that you contact your health insurance company to confirm your plan covers our telemedicine services.
Use your patient portal or visit the UPMC Provider Directory to find and schedule care with a UPMC Pain Management doctor who meets your needs. You can also call 412-432-1760 to get started.
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