Chronic pain is pain that lasts beyond expected healing, often three months or more. It can follow injury, surgery, arthritis, nerve damage, or appear without a single clear cause. Importantly, chronic pain is real. The nervous system can become more sensitive over time, so ordinary movement feels threatening. Care that only chases a perfect scan often misses the person living with the pain.
A toolkit, not a single fix
At AmyLewis MD we combine medical evaluation with physical therapy, sleep support, mood care, and paced activity. Medications may include anti-inflammatories, nerve-pain agents, or topical treatments. Opioids are considered cautiously and never as the only strategy. Injections or procedures are reserved for specific diagnoses after discussion of benefit and risk.
- Physical therapy to restore confidence in movement and correct protective guarding.
- Heat, ice, stretching, and short movement snacks during the workday.
- Cognitive approaches that reduce fear of flare-ups and catastrophic thinking.
- Sleep routines, because exhaustion lowers pain tolerance.
- Review of posture, workstation, and sports technique that keep re-injuring tissue.
Flare-up plans
A good plan names what you will do on a difficult day: reduce load without total bed rest, use prescribed medication as directed, practice breathing, and contact the clinic if red-flag symptoms appear—new weakness, bowel or bladder changes, fever with back pain, or pain after a fall. Staying slightly active during flares often shortens them.
Pain care is collaborative. Bring a diary of what aggravates and eases symptoms. We will look for treatable drivers, protect function, and measure progress by what you can do again—walk the shops, sleep through the night, return to a hobby—not only by a number on a scale.