Episode 170: Alternatives To Chronic Pain – Getting The Body-Brain Connection with Rafi Salazar

Dr. Deb speaks with Rafi Salazar about chronic pain and how the body responds to pain. Using a multi-disciplinary approach to managing pain can get you free from medication.

Do not miss these highlights:

04:15 How Rafi works with a team at the Department of Veterans Affairs in developing an integrated or multidisciplinary approach to pain management.

08:25 The BioPsychosocial Approach to pain management.

14:20 Pain is a sensory and emotional experience that is a creation of your brain based on the real or perceived tissue threat.

16:04 Sometimes our brain and our sensory system get those calls wrong, getting a series of misinterpretations over time.

17:58 If the pain is real, all we need to do is retrain that sensory system that this isn’t dangerous, so you can start moving pain-free.

19:39 The greater issue is, patients are losing hope because they’re not being given hope by the medical system.

22:44 For the longest time, healthcare and third-party payers have kind of viewed healthcare service delivery as almost industrialized.

24:56 If you’re still experiencing pain, find somebody who is talking about Neuroscience and Pain Perception.

27:37 Other kinds of practitioners that can help you with pain management.

30:28 One of the great benefits of Telehealth is that it removes this potential danger of becoming clinician dependent.

Resources Mentioned

Whether you are recovering from an illness or just looking to maintain your current overall health, schedule a consult with us at Serenity Health Care by calling (262)522-8640 or visit https://www.serenityhealthcarecenter.com

About our Guest:

Rafael E. Salazar II, MHS, OTR/L (Rafi) is the Principal Owner of Rehab U Practice Solutions, a leader in patient retention strategy. He has experience in a variety of rehab settings, working with patients recovering from a variety of injuries and surgeries. He worked as the lead clinician in an outpatient specialty clinic at his local VA Medical center, where he worked on projects to improve patient & employee engagement and experience throughout the organization. In that role, Rafi led a team to roll out a patient engagement initiative rooted in relationship-based care.

After leaving the VA, Rafi began working as a healthcare consultant, on a multi-million-dollar project for Georgia’s Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Disabilities. This project involved work related to the transition of individuals out of state institutions to community residences and establishing statewide mobile integrated clinical services for individuals on the state Medicaid waiver program. As part of that project, Rafi developed and launched a large internal marketing & communications campaign aimed at increasing awareness for internal stakeholders about integrated clinical services within the state.

He also developed protocols and systems to coordinate and manage interdisciplinary collaborative care within the State’s Medicaid Waiver system as well as clinical and operational guidelines for case management & telehealth and virtual service delivery.

Rafi also has experience as an assistant professor at Augusta University’s Occupational Therapy Program,, as a Licensed Board Member on the GA State OT Board, has served on several committees for the national OT Board (NBCOT), and as a consultant working for the State of Georgia’s DBHDD. He is also on the Board of Directors for NBCOT. He owns and operates Proactive Rehabilitation & Wellness, a multi-specialty outpatient clinic that treats patients experiencing musculoskeletal and orthopedic conditions as well as chronic pain.

At Rehab U Practice Solutions, Rafi helps clinics, health systems, and healthcare companies improve patient engagement & experience leading to increased revenue & lifetime patient value. He envisions a world where skilled, competent, and caring clinicians serve and care for engaged patients to promote better clinical outcomes, unmatched patient satisfaction, and lasting relationships.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafaelsalazarii

https://pro-activehealth.com

https://rehabupracticesolutions.com