If you have chronic back pain, your primary care physician might refer you to a back pain specialist like Dr. Parmele and Dr. Wolff at iSpine Pain Physicians. But how are these two types of doctors different? What can a back pain specialist do that your regular doctor can’t? Here iSpine will explain the basics in hopes of familiarizing you with their field and bringing you one step closer to back pain relief. 

Qualifications

Like any doctor, back pain physicians must complete rigorous training and receive numerous certifications. However, to be considered a specialist, their education must be more focused than a primary care physician’s area of study. Dr. Wolff and Dr. Parmele, for example, are specifically interested in the treatment of spinal pain and spinal disorders, so they completed their residencies in Anesthesiology and Pain Management. They both also received certification from the American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians (ABIPP). 

Diagnosis

As mentioned above, the biggest difference between your primary care physician and your back pain specialist is their levels of specificity. Your primary care physician knows a little bit of information about many different topics so they can recommend you to the proper specialist if they detect an issue. Your back pain physician, on the other hand, must know a lot of information about one specific topic. Thus, a specialist can more effectively diagnose the source of your chronic pain.

Treatment

Back pain specialists are best equipped to not only provide a comprehensive diagnosis of your pain, but also start you on the path to back pain relief. Primary care physicians are a stellar resource and starting point for identifying back pain, but the specialists they recommend to you will use their expertise and deep knowledge of back pain treatments to lead patients to back pain relief.

If you have any more questions about the treatments that these Twin Cities back pain specialists provide, visit their website. To speak with one of their certified physicians directly, call iSpine Pain Physicians at (763) 201-8191 today.