Dalton Ho

Allied health is a term used to describe a broad range of professionals that work with doctors and nurses to provide the best patient outcomes.

Allied health practitioners greatly influence your health care delivery. A team of allied health professionals provides essential services that promote heath, prevent disease and manage pain. They play a critical role in improving access and quality health care to patients and they are often the first discipline to identify a problem and take the next steps for medical management.

Silver Medical now offers Allied Health Services with a team of professionals to support recovery and restore quality of life. Our allied health team will play a critical role in meeting the challenges we face in our health care system by being available for early interventional care and by facilitating immediate access into Silver Medical pain treatment programs.

A study looking at opioid-related deaths in Colorado saw these fatalities drop as a result of recreational cannabis legalization in the state.

New research published last week in the American Journal of Public Health revealed that the legalization of recreational cannabis in Colorado resulted in a reversal of opioid-related deaths by 6.5 percent. The U.S. is facing an epidemic of opioid addiction and abuse, leading to more than 90 deaths every day. That cannabis legalization can help reverse this trend is welcome news.

Opioids are a class of narcotic drugs that act on the nervous system to produce powerful morphine-like effects. Commonly recommended by doctors for pain relief, opioids interact with opioid receptors to reduce the sending of pain messages to the brain.

 In 2017, more than 45,000 American died as a result of an opioid overdose. Nearly half of those deaths involved a prescription opioid. Opioids include prescription painkillers like Codeine, Fentanyl, Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, and more, the classification also includes the illegal drug heroin, which often becomes the final step for those fighting opioid addiction. About 80% of people who turn to illegal heroin first misused prescription opioids.

Performed by University of North Texas Health Science Center researchers and their colleagues, the study concluded that, “After Colorado’s legalization of recreational cannabis sale and use, opioid-related deaths decreased more than 6% in the following 2 years.”

The authors examined trends in monthly opiate overdose fatalities in Colorado before and after the state’s recreational marijuana market opened in 2014 and included data from 2000-2015. The researchers attempted to isolate the effect of recreational, rather than medical, cannabis by comparing data in Colorado to that of Nevada, which allowed medical but not recreational cannabis during that period.

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A growing number of chronic pain sufferers are being diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, or CRPS, a chronic and progressive condition characterized by severe pain, inflammation and changes in the coloring and temperature of the skin. CRPS is believed to be caused by damage or malfunction of the peripheral and central nervous systems, often as a result of injury or trauma to a limb.  People afflicted with the condition commonly describe the pain as a burning sensation, which affects one of their arms, legs, hands or feet.

The most common triggers are fractures, strains or sprains, soft tissue injuries (such as cuts, burns, or bruises), or limb immobilization (such as being in a cast).

As with any chronic pain, CRPS can significantly affect an individual’s quality of life, keeping them from the simplest of activities and affecting their sleep patterns and mood.

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The Centre for Pain Care (CPC) is now offering new image-guided procedures as therapy for back and neck pain and sciatica treatment. Treatment options include radiofrequency and epidural steroid injections performed with guidance by fluoroscopy (x-ray).

Chronic pain, defined as any pain lasting more than three months, can sideline an individual from everyday activities like walking or standing for an extended period. It’s often painful to drive, exercise or even pick up a child. That pain doesn’t go away when you go to bed at night either – there’s a vicious cycle of back and neck pain and sleep issues that influence each other.

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The Silver Medical Group Centre for Pain Care (CPC) physicians and staff are dedicated to the highest health and safety practices to maintain cleanliness, hygiene and infection control, as well as reducing health risks and protecting patient safety in compliance with Public Health Ontario. Our Centre has in place robust and comprehensive Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) policies and procedures that are supervised closely by both our own staff and with regular oversight by Public Health authorities.

In order to ensure that you receive the best and safest possible care, the CPC abides by the following IPAC practices:

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