Announcement: The DANY Grant
Dr. Karan Johar and NYC Pain Specialists have recently received a prestigious grant from Doctors Across New York’s Physician Practice Support Program to provide medical services in Pain Management. Doctors Across New York (DANY), established in 2008, is a collection of programs through the New York State Department of Health intended to train and place physicians to care for the diverse and sprawling population. New York has a higher physician-to-population ratio than the national average, and is a specialist-rich area, but it struck Dr. Johar that there were still pockets where patients are medically underserved.
Recognizing Psychiatric Disorders in Athletes
Whether you are a dancer, swimmer, or basketball player, being involved in a sport is always physically demanding. The pressures of being a competitive athlete take an emotional toll as well, although may not be as evident because many athletes do not admit they have a mental illness nor do they take the appropriate steps to seeking help. Professors Lynette Hughes and Gerard Leavey believe that athletes are “vulnerable to mental illness” because elite sports call for “investments of time and energy, often resulting in a loss of personal autonomy and disempowerment for athletes.” Oftentimes, athletes feel distress when their beloved pastime becomes a stressful occupation. When athletes consider their sport as a huge part of their identity, and this essential part of themselves begins to cause them stress, that’s when psychological disorders start to develop.
Recognizing Psychiatric Disorders in Athletes
Whether you are a dancer, swimmer, or basketball player, being involved in a sport is always physically demanding. The pressures of being a competitive athlete take an emotional toll as well, although may not be as evident because many athletes do not admit they have a mental illness nor do they take the appropriate steps to seeking help. Professors Lynette Hughes and Gerard Leavey believe that athletes are “vulnerable to mental illness” because elite sports call for “investments of time and energy, often resulting in a loss of personal autonomy and disempowerment for athletes.” Oftentimes, athletes feel distress when their beloved pastime becomes a stressful occupation. When athletes consider their sport as a huge part of their identity, and this essential part of themselves begins to cause them stress, that’s when psychological disorders start to develop.
Getting Rid of that Pain in the Butt: Piriformis Syndrome
Experienced frequently by runners and athletes, piriformis syndrome is a condition that has to do with pain in the buttock region due to spasms in the piriformis muscle. It is a neuromuscular disorder that oftentimes extends down and irritates the nearby sciatic nerve, causing pain, and numbness and tingling along the back of the leg and foot. Though the condition can vary in the severity of discomfort experienced by the patient, piriformis syndrome is more often viewed as an irritating and cumbersome condition than as a serious debilitating injury. While many who experience it find the recovery process lengthy and frustrating, understanding the condition itself and its causes and prevention strategies can help those who experience it to understand the process of recovery better and why it is important to stay consistent with treatment.
Pediatric Chronic Pain
Pain is something all of us, no matter who we are, have experienced firsthand. Physical pain is indiscriminate and, unfortunately, children are just as likely to experience pain as adults. However, diagnosing and treating pain in a child is very different from doing so in an adult, and often requires particular attention. Because the presence of chronic pain in a child’s life has the potential to be debilitating on more than just a physical level, a well-rounded approach to treatment is absolutely necessary to promote, to the extent that is possible, a quick recovery and return to normality.