The worst thing about pain is that you cannot see it. Unless you or a close family member of yours lives with chronic pain, it is hard to imagine what it is like. Some days are worse than others, and certain lifestyle changes and medical interventions can bring temporary relief, except when they do not. Complete freedom from chronic pain seems like a distant dream. If you suffer chronic pain from injuries you sustained in an accident resulting from someone else’s negligence, you have the right to seek compensation for the treatment you need for pain management. Even with a settlement amount that includes a lifetime of pain management care and noneconomic damages for suffering from chronic pain, you still wish for relief.
The good news is that medical science is always advancing, and researchers not too far from New Mexico have developed an experimental treatment that has brought long-term relief to several chronic pain sufferers after nothing else worked. If you are living with chronic pain after a car accident, contact a Santa Fe car accident lawyer.
The Trouble With Pain Management
Pain does not show up on diagnostic images. The only way that doctors can tell whether the treatments they prescribe for your pain are working is to wait for you to describe your response. Pain management is often trial and error. Even worse, pain sometimes takes on a life of its own, becoming worse than the acute injury that caused it and persisting after the acute injury heals. Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is when you experience pain and other abnormal sensations in a hand or foot after an injury to your arm or leg. In some cases, the cause is damage to a nerve in the ankle, knee, elbow, or wrist. In other cases, the brain sends pain signals to the affected body part simply because it is so used to pain that it does not know what to do. CRPS can also cause other symptoms of nerve dysfunction to the affected extremity; the hand or foot might be hotter or colder to the touch than the rest of the body, and the skin might be discolored or have abnormal hair growth or an unusual texture.
An Experimental Treatment Offers Hope for People With Chronic Pain
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, have installed brain stimulation implants in several patients who suffer from CRPS and other chronic pain conditions. The patients report promising results, with more lasting pain relief than they have gotten from other treatments. Brain stimulation implants are an established treatment for Parkinson’s disease, and the researchers at UCSF hypothesized that the implants would have a similar effect on chronic pain conditions.
Contact Slate Stern About Personal Injury Lawsuits
Slate Stern is a personal injury lawyer who represents plaintiffs suffering from chronic pain after being injured in car accidents. Contact Slate Stern in Santa Fe, New Mexico, or call (505)814-1517 to discuss your case.
Sources
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/07/health/pain-management-brain
Photo by Camila Quintero Franco on Unsplash