Chronic Pain

The Calgary Health Region Chronic Pain Centre has now completed 8.5 years of operations within the CHR Regional Pain Program.  It is now the largest such Centre in Canada and is a leader in interdisciplinary rehabilitation for individuals with chronic pain.

Three members of the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation currently practice at the Chronic Pain Centre:  Dr. Pamela Barton, co-founder and former medical director, Dr. Noorshina Virani and Dr. Nwamara Dike.  In addition to their strong background in pain management and interdisciplinary rehabilitation, Drs. Barton and Virani contribute specific expertise in clinical biomechanics, while Dr. Dike has shared her expertise from a pain fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York.  Dr. Dike has also participated in the newly inaugurated Chronic Pain Inpatient Consultation Service now available in all of Calgary’s hospitals.

The physiatrists work in the Neuromusculoskeletal Program alongside anaesthetists, family practitioners and all members of the rehabilitation teams.  They have many patients who are co-managed with the gynecologists and neurologists of the Pelvic Pain and Headache Programs.  They also participate in teaching medical students, residents and fellows in family practice, anaesthesiology, psychiatry, physical medicine and rehabilitation and neurology who rotate through the Centre. 

During 2008, the physiatrists contributed a total of 0.6 FTE, completing 58 new patient assessments and an additional 302 follow up visits on a total of 162 unique patients.  Due to their competence in the interdisciplinary management of complex patients, their caseloads carry many of the more complicated patients referred to the Chronic Pain Centre.

 

 

Updated: 2009-04-29