PRE:VAIL stands for Pain Rehabilitation and Education: Values and Actions that Improve Life. The program provides high-quality therapies for those impacted by chronic pain. PRE:VAIL works actively with people to improve four major outcomes:
- Mobility
- Function
- Coping
- Quality of life
What We Do
PRE:VAIL staff treat chronic pain through a biopsychosocial approach that addresses the biological causes as well as the psychological, physical and social consequences of pain. Biopsychosocial approach includes:
- Medicine: This involves providing medications appropriate for long-term use while discontinuing unsafe or ineffective medications. We don’t prescribe opioids.
- Physical Therapy: This involves guided exercises to increase range of motion, strength and endurance and improve functioning.
- Occupational Therapy: This therapy is used to improve performance and participation in daily patient-centered activities.
- Pain Psychology: This therapy works to improve pain coping skills and decrease the negative impact of pain on emotions, relationships, work, hobbies, parenting and other important activities.
- Nutrition Classes: This approach is used to educate and create awareness of nutritional practices to reduce inflammation that may contribute to pain.
Chronic conditions we treat
- Bursitis
- Central pain syndrome
- Chronic abdominal pain, including irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pancreatitis and Crohn’s disease
- Chronic back pain, including lumbar stenosis and Sacroiliac joint dysfunction
- Chronic fatigue syndrome/ myalgic encephalomyelitis
- Chronic headaches, including migraines and cervicogenic headache
- Chronic joint pain, including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus
- Chronic neck pain including cervical stenosis and cervical spondylosis
- Chronic pelvic pain, including endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS, types 1 and 2)
- Fibromyalgia
- Gaucher's disease
- Interstitial cystitis/ painful bladder syndrome
- Joint hypermobility/ Ehlers Danlos Syndrome
- Multiple sclerosis pain
- Neuropathies, including diabetic neuropathy, meralgia paresthetica, and trigeminal neuralgia
- Other Neurologic conditions including Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and transverse myelitis
- Post-laminectomy syndrome
- Radiculopathies, including sciatica
- Sickle Cell Disease
- Spinal cord injury
About Pain
Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience and can be either acute or chronic.
- Acute pain is pain that’s existed for less than three months. In many cases, acute pain can be cured or fixed.
- Chronic pain is pain that’s lasted for longer than three to six months. Often, once pain has become chronic, there’s no longer a current injury or damage to the body causing the pain. Instead, malfunctioning of the nervous system continues the pain, even if that pain began with an acute illness or injury. Unfortunately, there’s rarely a way to completely relieve chronic pain, though people can learn strategies to reduce pain and restore functioning.
There are three different categories of pain called nociceptive, neuropathic, or nociplastic pain:
- Nociceptive pain is pain caused by tissue damage through an illness, surgery or injury. Nociceptive pain can be either acute or chronic.
- Neuropathic pain occurs when there’s a malfunction in the nervous system, typically caused by diseases such as shingles or poorly controlled diabetes, or by injury to the spinal cord or other nerves. With neuropathic pain, discomfort may be caused by a nerve malfunction in one part of the body, but is felt in the body part(s) fed by the malfunctioning nerve. Likewise, neuropathic pain can also be either acute or chronic.
- Nociplastic pain is a type of chronic pain that’s caused by changes in the way the nervous system processes pain signals. It typically results from already existing chronically painful conditions such as osteoarthritis or migraines. People often develop nociplastic pain as a consequence of their prior nociceptive or neuropathic chronic pain. Once nociplastic pain begins, patients frequently experience pain in multiple body areas beyond their original pain site, and their pain is more easily triggered than before.
All of PRE:VAIL’s services, from psychology appointments to occupational therapy, are available at Outpatient Care East, either on the first or third floors. In addition to Outpatient Care East, physical therapy appointments can take place at Outpatient Care Lewis Center, Outpatient Care Dublin, Outpatient Care New Albany or Martha Morehouse Outpatient Care.
Medical follow-up and psychology appointments can often be completed virtually using a smartphone or computer, without requiring a visit to the clinic. PRE:VAIL providers and scheduling team will help you determine which facility best fits your needs and location.
If you've been referred to PRE:VAIL, please call 614-293-7246 for scheduling.