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Pain Management

SEARHC’s pain management program provides patients with personalized care using evidence-based modalities, in-person and virtual visits for increased access to their care team, and a collaborative approach that integrates physical, procedural, and behavioral therapies. Our interdisciplinary approach ensures the highest level of care and coordination close to home. Our pain management team manages chronic pain with a whole-person approach. Care plans are designed to address all three aspects of the pain experience: sensory, emotional, and cognitive. SEARHC providers combine medical, rehabilitation, and behavioral health care to help improve function, reduce stress, and regain quality of life.

Compassionate Interdisciplinary Pain Management Services

Medical Care

We perform full assessments and develop a personalized treatment plan addressing sensory aspects with medication, provide pain neuroscience education for patients to better understand how pain works, and support patients through multiple visits that guide progress and readiness for change.

Rehabilitation Care

Treatment plans are tailored to each patient’s condition and needs. Our rehabilitation team helps improve sensory function through movement and muscle training and reinforce cognitive strategies like pain education and activity planning. 

Behavioral Health

Our Behavioral Health team works closely with the pain management team addressing cognitive and emotional factors through evident based therapies like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Pain Processing Therapy (PRT) and Trauma-focused care and other modalities.

Program Goals

We provide long-term support to improve quality of life, give hope, and empower patients with their health and healing. Our team works collaboratively to reduce anxiety and depression linked to chronic pain, increase activity and independence, and achieve meaningful pain reduction. 

What to Expect

Patients working with our interdisciplinary pain team are actively involved in their care and are supported through education, movement, and coping strategies that lead to better function and quality of life, and maximum pain reduction. 

Nonsurgical Pain Treatment

Our Pain Management team provides individualized treatment for chronic and acute pain using advanced nonsurgical approaches. We offer in-person and virtual consultations to ensure access across Southeast Alaska. When complex needs arise, we coordinate referrals to higher-level care. Nonsurgical pain treatment can be paired with other complementary therapies like Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for higher-level care when needed. Conditions commonly treated with nonsurgical pain management approaches, including injections, osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), and other modalities, based on SEARHC internal resources and clinical best practices:

Celiac plexus pain

Cervical facet pain

Chronic joint pain (knee, hip, shoulder, ankle)

Chronic ligament or tendon pain (tendonitis, bursitis)

Chronic migraines

Chronic pelvic pain

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)

Degenerative disc disease

Diabetic neuropathy

Facet joint pain

Failed back surgery syndrome

Fibromyalgia

Herniated discs

Hip pain

Knee pain

Ligament laxity and joint instability

Low back pain and sacroiliac joint dysfunction

Lumbar, thoracic, and cervical pain (facet joint arthritis, degenerative disc disease)

Myofascial pain syndrome

Occipital neuralgia

Osteoarthritis

Peripheral nerve entrapment syndromes

Post-herpetic neuralgia

Radiculopathy (nerve root irritation causing arm/leg pain)

Sacroiliac joint dysfunction

Shoulder pain (rotator cuff tendinopathy, adhesive capsulitis)

Spinal stenosis

Sports injuries (sprains, chronic soft-tissue injuries)

Tendinopathy (rotator cuff, Achilles, patellar tendon)

Tension headaches

TMJ pain

Visceral pain syndromes

Modalities and Treatment

Our care team uses various methods of treatment and modalities best suited for each patient and their specific needs. Patients work with their provider to identify the sources and create a treatment plan using:

Imaging-guided injections

Epidural steroid injections, facet joint injections, sacroiliac joint injections, peripheral nerve blocks, trigger point injections

Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA)

for facet and genicular nerves

Botox

Often used for patients suffering with migraines

Fascial Distortion Model

Frequency Specific Microcurrent

Prolotherapy and Hydrodissection

Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) Techniques

Focuses on soft tissue, muscle energy, articulation, and spinal manipulation

Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT)

Our providers use PRT, an evidence-based psychological approach, designed to help people with chronic pain retrain their brains to interpret pain signals accurately. PRT is based on the concept of neuroplastic pain, where the brain continues to send pain signals even after the body has healed. Instead of focusing on structural damage, PRT targets the brain’s misinterpretation of safe signals as threats. PRT is used for patients suffering from chronic back and neck pain, tension headaches, and other persistent pain without a clear structural connection.

PRT treatment includes therapist-led exercises that combine home practices like journaling, mindfulness, and somatic tracking that often integrates with CBT principles and mind-body techniques.

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Modalities and Treatment

Education

Patients learn that chronic pain often stems from the train and explain the concept of neuroplastic pain and how retraining works. 

Somatic Tracking

Patients are taught to observe pain sensations with curiosity and calm attention while reinforcing that these sensations are safe – reducing fear and threat response.

Safety Reappraisal

Patients learn to reframe pain signals as non-dangerous “false alarms” and use cognitive techniques to challenge catastrophic thoughts. 

Emotional Processing

Patients address stress, anxiety, and unresolved emotions that increase pain responses and use mindfulness and acceptance strategies when approaching their pain and symptoms. 

Behavioral Practice

Providers help patients incorporate gradual exposure to movements and activities previously avoided due to pain and reinforce positive experiences that retrain the brain’s pain pathways. 

Treatment Options

PRT care focuses on different formats to meet patients’ needs, including travel or location limitations. PRT can be conducted in individual sessions, both in person and virtual, as well as group virtual sessions.

Individual Sessions

Individual sessions are held in-person or virtually in 8 sessions over the course of 4 weeks. Each session lasts 45-60 minutes depending on patient needs and care plan.

Group Sessions

Group sessions are held virtually over the course of 10-12 weeks. Each session lasts 60-90 minutes.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is a widely used, evidence-based psychological treatment that focuses on the connection between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Your provider helps you identify distorted thoughts, challenge and reframe thoughts to be more balanced and realistic, and incorporate behavioral strategies like coping skills, problem-solving, and gradual exposure to feared situations.

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Modalities and Treatment

Education

Patients learn about the link between thoughts, emotions, and behavior to be able to explain negative thought patterns that contribute to distress and symptoms. 

Cognitive Restructuring

Providers help patients identify unhelpful or distorted thoughts and challenges and replace them with balanced, realistic thoughts.

Behavioral Activation

Providers encourage engagement in positive activities and use graded exposure for anxiety and/or pain-related fear.

Skill Building

Patients are taught coping strategies, problem-solving, and relaxation techniques like practicing mindfulness and stress management.

Practice

Patients are active participants in their treatment and healing. By using journaling or behavioral experiments, patients see progress and reinforced skills learned in session through real-life application.

Treatment Options

CBT care focuses on different formats to meet patients’ needs, including travel or location limitations. CBT can be conducted in individual sessions, both in person and virtual, as well as group virtual sessions.

CBT appointments are provided in an individual or group setting lasting 45-60 minutes per session. Depending on the patient’s conditions and goals, the treatment plan includes 6-20 sessions. Your provider will work closely with you and your care team to determine the setting and treatment plan.

Why Choose SEARHC Pain Management

In-Person & Telehealth Visits

Our providers and teams coordinate with patients to provide the best access to treatment both virtually and in-person as well as individual or group sessions. 

Ongoing Access & Support

Regular follow-up ensures symptoms are monitored and tracked as well as patient progress.

Coordinated Care

Collaborating closely with our rehabilitation, behavioral health and pain management teams providing a comprehensive treatment plan.

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Locations & Telehealth

In-person consultations in Sitka (Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center) and Juneau (Ethel Lund Medical Center and SEARHC Specialty Clinic).

Telehealth appointments are available consortium-wide ensuring you’re cared for regardless of where you live. Providers and care teams work with patients and determine their needs to find the best treatment options and locations.

Next Steps: Scheduling Pain Management Care

Referrals are required for pain management care. To get started,

  • Ask your Primary Care Provider (PCP) for a referral.
  • Contact the Specialty Care team to schedule once your referral has been sent by calling 907.966.8504.

 

Our team is ready to guide you toward improved joint health and help you reduce pain, improve mobility, and maintain a better quality of life.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)