Too often, ailments that involve chronic pain are thought to be the sole province of the aged and infirm. However, a surprising number of children and young adults also have serious issues with chronic pain. Many children are born with debilitating and painful genetic disorders, some not manifest until the child is several years old. It is therefore important to know where parents can turn when the need arises to alleviate a child's chronic pain.

Hospital emergency rooms, while helpful when an acute incident arises, are simply not set up to handle ongoing patient care for chronic pain. How many of us have experienced the interminable waiting in a crowded, loud and uncomfortable hospital emergency room with our child crying and upset. Look closely at the doctors and nurses in the emergency room - you will see caring and well-trained individuals pushed to the limit by overwhelming demands on their energy and time. These harried healers are not in a position to treat the needs of a patient with long-term serious pain. So parents look for alternatives that provide a continuity of care for their children in need. One such alternative is a chronic pain clinic.

Chronic pain clinics are rapidly gaining popularity due to their focus on the palliation of recurring pain from disease or injury. New clinics are popping up monthly, some better than others. Clinics with the highest reputations, such as the New York Pain Clinic, feature some of the finest and most knowledgeable pain physicians in the country. They understand that chronic pain is chronically undertreated in this country. One reason for this is that doctors that haven't received extensive advanced training in pain remediation are unduly afraid of creating a situation where their patient becomes addicted to pain medication. Skilled pain doctors, on the other hand, know how to select, dose, and vary pain management protocols to minimize the risk of addiction while effectively suppressing recurrent pain. Selection of the proper drugs is critical. For example, treatment for acute lower back pain can be quite different than that provided for alleviating the anguish associated with bone cancer.

A level of complexity is added when the patients are children. Not only must a health care provider have general knowledge of pain medicine, but also have special pediatric training to adapt pain management protocols to young people. The best advice for a parent is to investigate health providers carefully before exposing your son or daughter to the treatment provided by any given practitioner.