16 May Concierge Medicine and Chronic Pain

Can you give an example of how concierge medicine results in different treatments and outcomes vs traditional medicine?

Chronic pain is a common problem. In traditional medicine, a patient might be prescribed an opioid. That happens so often that as a society, we now find ourselves in an opioid epidemic.

As a concierge physician, I have the time to get to the bottom of what’s causing the pain so sometimes it’s a matter of focusing on the diagnosis.  I assess behaviors that may be exacerbating pain, from ergonomics — the way a person sits, moves and carries things — to some deficiency in their diet.

I work with my chronic pain patients to adopt alternate strategies. This could include cryotherapy, physical therapy, yoga, meditation, and a diet that reduces inflammation. It takes time — exactly what traditional is short of.

ASK DR. MALKIN is a series of medical questions posed to Dr. Abe Malkin, MD, MBA, a Los Angeles house call doctor. Board-certified in family medicine, Dr. Malkin is a concierge physician in Los Angeles and founder of Conciergemdla.com. Dr. Malkin has served as a medical expert for several news media organizations. Have questions for Dr. Malkin? Submit them to [email protected].