NORTHAMPTON, MASS., August 27, 2007 - Chronic pain affects more than a quarter of the U.S. population over the age of 20, exceeding the total of Americans affected by cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Persistent pain can affect every aspect of daily life and the relationship between the patient and the health care provider is an essential component of effective pain management. To develop and maintain a good relationship, it is important for the patient to feel comfortable enough to ask questions and important for the health care provider to answer questions and address concerns thoroughly. To help those dealing with chronic pain effectively work with their pain management team, Healthcommunities.com, Inc., has launched Painchannel.com.
Painchannel provides browsers with free, up-to-date information and opportunities to share stories and discuss their experiences with one another. The new website offers reliable information about conditions that cause both acute and chronic pain, the treatments used to manage pain, diagnostic techniques, descriptions of pain medications, and a worksheet to help patients work with their pain management team.
"With Painchannel, we're targeting a population that can benefit from both sound medical information and the experience of others who are dealing with pain themselves," said Stanley J. Swierzewski III, M.D., a practicing physician and the founder of Healthcommunities.com. "Browsers can learn from the physician-monitored content on Painchannel, and then read stories of how others have dealt with their pain (or tell their own) in a moderated, edited section of the website called Living with Pain. In addition, browsers can join ongoing discussions in forums addressing specific clinical conditions, for example, fibromyalgia." Physicians who contribute to the forums are screened and identified as "Healthcommunities.com Approved Physicians."Painchannel.com is the newest of the company's 27 health-related websites (e.g., neurologychannel.com, urologychannelchannel.com, podiatrychannel.com) that give consumers relevant, reliable condition and treatment information, and the opportunity to share stories and converse with one another about the clinical information they find on the website and their own experiences.
Browsers on Painchannel.com can also use the healthcare provider locator feature to find all types of healthcare providers that treat chronic pain, from anesthesiologists to urologists.
Healthcommunities.com, Inc., a privately held company founded in 1998, serves health care consumers searching for reliable information. Healthcommunities.com is a Physician Developed and Monitored™ collection of online communities providing information and resources to consumers and patient education website services to health care providers.
