Chronic Pain
Dr. Barth's work in regard to Chronic Pain
Professional Activities:
Neuropsychologist Dr. Robert Barth has repeatedly been asked to provide teaching, writing, and editorial review duties, addressing chronic pain and pain management, for many healthcare academies, governmental agencies, and healthcare publishers including all of the following:
- American Medical Association
- American Psychological Association
- American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
- European Union of Medicine in Assurance and Social Security
- American Academy of Disability Evaluating Physicians
- North American Spine Society
- American Academy of Neurology
- American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
- National Association of Workers' Compensation Judiciary
- Official Disability Guidelines Treatment in Workers Compensation
- Occupational and Environmental Medicine Press
- Alabama Division of Workers Compensation
- Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation
- Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission
- Tennessee State Government, Department of Labor and Workforce Development
- Workers Compensation Board of Alberta, Canada
- complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)
- “reflex sympathetic dystrophy” (“RSD”)
- “causalgia”
- chronic back pain
- chronic neck pain
- chronic extremity pain (arm pain, leg pain, etc.)
- posttraumatic headache
- “fibromyalgia”
- back surgery
- spinal cord stimulation
- implanted medication pumps (or “pain pumps”, intrathecal pumps, etc.)
- narcotics (opioids)
- multidisciplinary pain programs (also called interdisciplinary pain programs)
- pain management
- additional issues of relevance to chronic pain
The American Medical Association has repeatedly asked Dr. Barth to work on AMA publications and programs which have addressed pain. Dr. Barth’s work with the AMA has included:
- Contributing to the AMA’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment
- Specifically including contributing to the discussions of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) (the concept which has replaced the concept of reflex sympathetic dystrophy – RSD), the discussion of impairment evaluation for the upper extremities, and the discussion of impairment evaluation for the lower extremities.
- Serving as a reviewer for the AMA’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment
- Specifically including serving as the “final” reviewer for the Pain chapter, the Central and Peripheral Nervous System chapter, and the Mental and Behavioral Disorders chapter, all of which address pain.
- Writing and editing additional AMA publications, addressing issues which have included:
- complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) (the concept which has replaced the concepts of reflex sympathetic dystrophy and causalgia)
- back pain
- neck pain
- chronic pain
- posttraumatic headache
- “fibromyalgia”
- Additional issues of relevance to pain
- Providing continuing education for the AMA’s
House of Delegates
Dr. Barth has been asked to write about and to provide editorial duties focused on chronic pain for other medical academies and medical publishers. This has included:
- American Academy of Neurology
- Serving as a reviewer for AAN in regard to:
- American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine’s (ACOEM) Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines regarding chronic pain
- American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine’s (ACOEM) Guidelines regarding low back pain
- guidelines for the use of opioids (narcotics) for chronic non-cancer pain
- practice parameters for recurrent headache, etc
- American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
- Being invited to consult directly to the editor-in-chief of the ACOEM Guidelines in regard to complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) (the concept which has replaced the concepts of reflex sympathetic dystrophy and causalgia)
- Occupational and Environmental Medicine Press
- writing on complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) (the concept which has replaced the concepts of reflex sympathetic dystrophy and causalgia)
- Official Disability Guidelines Treatment in Workers Compensation
- providing consultation on pain management as a
member of the editorial advisory board
Directing a Large Healthcare System for Chronic Pain Patients
Dr. Barth has dedicated more than a decade of volunteer work to Hospice of Chattanooga, serving as Director, Chairman of the Board, Compliance and Ethics Committee Chair, and Research Committee Co-Chair for the largest provider of pain management, palliative care, and end-of-life care in Chattanooga, TN.
Chronic Pain: Neuropsychology Evaluations and File Reviews
For chronic pain patients, Dr. Barth’s evaluations and file reviews can help clarify issues such as:
- Diagnosis
- Causation (e.g., injury-relatedness, work-relatedness, etc.)
- Impairment
- Disability
- Prognosis
- Treatment planning
- Additional issues
Typical cases involve:
- CRPS: patients who are suspected to have developed complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)
- “RSD”: patients who have been told that they have “reflex sympathetic dystrophy” (“RSD”)
- “Causalgia”: patients who have been told that they have developed “causalgia”
- Back pain: chronic back pain (including low back pain)
- Neck pain: patients with chronic neck pain
- Extremity pain: e.g., patients with chronic arm pain, chronic leg pain, etc.
- Headache: patients who have been told that they are experiencing posttraumatic headache, postconcussion headache, etc.
- Back surgery: patients who have been advised to consider back surgery,
- Spinal cord stimulation: patients who have been advised to consider spinal cord stimulators
- “Pain pumps: patients who have been advised to consider a pain pump, an implanted medication pump, intrathecal pump, etc.
- Narcotics / Opioids: patients who have been advised to take narcotics (opioids) long-term
- Multidisciplinary Pain Programs: patients who have been advised to consider multidisciplinary pain programs (also called interdisciplinary pain programs)
- Pain management: patients who have been advised to consider working with a pain management specialist
- Fibromyalgia: patients who have been told that they have fibromyalgia
- Additional chronic pain concepts and issues
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