Becoming Pain-Free: Dr Adam Siwek Of The Pain Center of Arizona On How to Alleviate Chronic Pain

An interview with Maria Angelova

Dietary modifications

Treat food as medicine. Food has a role beyond just expendable energy. It can significantly impact not only your weight and therefore the mechanical load on the body, but also your mental health, sleep, and even motivation.

So many people suffer from chronic pain. Often people believe that they have tried everything, and that there is no real hope for them to live pain-free. What are some things these individuals can do, to help reduce or even eliminate their pain? In this interview series, called “Becoming Pain-Free: How to Alleviate Chronic Pain” we are talking to medical professionals, pain management specialists and authors who can share their insights and strategies about how to alleviate chronic pain. As a part of this series we had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Adam Siwek.

Dr. Adam Siwek is an Interventional Pain and Spine Specialist at The Pain Center of Arizona in Phoenix, Arizona where he focuses on treating a multitude of chronic pain conditions. Dr. Siwek received his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) degree from Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine and went on to complete a residency in Anesthesiology with a surgical internship at the University of Arizona. Dr. Siwek furthered his medical training by completing a fellowship in Chronic Pain at the University of Arizona.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?

My name is Dr. Adam Siwek and I am an interventional Pain and Spine Specialist at The Pain Center of Arizona. I am an Arizona native and was later even born at the same hospital where I later completed my residency in Anesthesiology. My friends and family are an integral part of my life, and growing up in The Valley I’ve been fortunate to be in close proximity to both my family and friends over the years. I left Arizona for my undergraduate degree in Pre-Med at Pepperdine University where I played lacrosse and gained amazing new experiences. I returned to Arizona to pursue my medical education — an 8-year journey after college. During that time, I met my beautiful wife, and we’ve been married over 4 years. She is a highly skilled Registered Nurse, and it’s been so nice for both of us to have a passion for healthcare. As an Interventional Pain and Spine Specialist at The Pain Center of Arizona my focus is on a wide variety of chronic pain conditions including conditions such as degenerative changes of the spine and joints, neuropathies, and myofascial pain. We offer our patient’s some of the most innovative solutions available to help better manage their pain symptoms from steroid injections and neuromodulation to minimally invasive mechanical solutions that tackle the source of our patient’s pain symptoms.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?

There have been many interesting stories I have experienced in my career, but one to this day continues to stand strong in my memory. I met a young patient in his thirties that had been experiencing chronic pain from a routine procedure he had had years back. Talking to this patient, I was struck with how debilitating his pain was and how it had drastically changed his quality of his life. He stated he could no longer walk his daughter to school due to the horrendous pain he was living in each day. Nothing he had tried had helped his pain or helped him regain his quality of life, and after years of pain he had nearly given up all hope. After a successful placement of a neuromodulation device, this patient reported nearly complete resolution of his pain symptoms and a dramatic improvement in his quality of life. He was able to return to his life, enjoy going for a run, and walk his daughter to school. My main takeaway from this experience was that pain can affect everyone. I was remined of the importance of the field I work in and why I am so passionate about the work I do. The field of Chronic Pain ultimately seeks to help restore quality of life to its patients and it is my goal to help get my patient’s back to living and enjoying life’s simple yet profound joys.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Something that comes to mind is a small lesson but something very valuable one that I learned early on in my career that has greatly improved my patients’ outcomes. As a pain physician you want to provide relief and do whatever you can to help the patient that is coming in with pain. Often by the time a patient presents to our chronic pain clinic, they have failed conservative therapies, usually consisting of medication management and physical therapy. On top of that, the etiology of the patient’s symptoms is usually multifactorial in nature, meaning it is not always an easy one solution fix to tackle a patient’s chronic pain symptoms. Lifestyle modifications are often overlooked and not emphasized enough to patients. I learned the great value of taking the time to educate and encourage my patients to implement lifestyle changes in addition to the procedures and interventions that we offer. While the interventions that are provided help, a patient putting in the time and effort to implement a healthy diet, exercise, strengthening the core and back muscles can greatly improve outcomes.

When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?

Acute pain, which is defined by pain lasting less than 3 months, carries a biological purpose that serves our body in a sense of bringing awareness to a specific disease state or injury. On the other hand, chronic pain, which is pain lasting more than 3 months, serves no biological purpose and has no recognizable end point. Additionally, it can have detrimental consequences including psychological disease, occupational hardship, social isolation, and it is highly associated with depression and anxiety. Additionally, chronic pain is highly relevant in America, but oftentimes it goes unseen. Research from April of 2023 and recently published in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report estimated more than 51 million people — more than 20% of US adults — have chronic pain and 17 million — almost 7% of adults — have high-impact chronic pain. The work we do helps combat this relevant and biologically purposeless pathology that can help bring back a patient’s quality of life.

Let’s jump to the main focus of this series. For the benefit of our readers, can you please tell us why you are an authority on the subject of chronic pain?

I have spent more than the last decade of my life in medical training, utilizing the newest research and state-of-the-art techniques. But it’s not just that, I am also extremely passionate about the subject of chronic pain and treating my patients with utmost care. Providing great care to chronic pain patients day in and day out is something I love, especially when I see how the interventions we offer can change a person’s life.

Can you please share with us a few of the most common causes of chronic pain?

The most common causes of pain I see in my practice are secondary to 1.) degenerative changes of the spine and/or joints, such as arthritis or degenerative disc disease 2.) neuropathic, such as injury to a central or peripheral nerve and lastly 3.) musculoskeletal, such a muscle strain/sprain from an overuse injury. All carry different modalities to diagnose their cause and interventions to better alleviate their symptoms.

There are many different types of pain that people struggle with. Which specific form of pain would you like to focus on in this interview? Why that one?

I’d like to focus on degenerative changes to the spine. Degenerative changes are one of the most common reasons people present to my office and it is one not many people consider as an etiology to their pain symptoms, especially in regard to low back pain. When people think of arthritis, they usually think of their knees, hips, shoulders, etc., but they are not always aware that the lower back has many joints, known as facet joints, that many times can be the cause for their pain or their “pain generator” in other words. When these joints become inflamed and irritated, we refer to this as facet arthropathy. Nowadays we are able to offer several interventions that we can trial to bring about a significant reduction in patient’s pain symptoms with this specific diagnosis.

Here is the main question of our interview. Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey toward becoming pain-free?

1 . Dietary modifications

Treat food as medicine. Food has a role beyond just expendable energy. It can significantly impact not only your weight and therefore the mechanical load on the body, but also your mental health, sleep, and even motivation.

2 . Exercise

Both aerobic exercise, such as walking or running, and anaerobic exercise, such as weightlifting, can improve your cardiovascular health and better strengthen the musculature surrounding painful joints to help decrease pain symptoms.

3 . Stretching/balance

Taking the time focus on your musculature through stretching and balance can help promote blood flow and wash out inflammatory factors that could be adding to muscular tension and pain.

4 . Sleep

Many studies have shown a correlation between poor sleep and increased pain scores. Focusing on sleep hygiene and obtaining 7–9 hours of sleep per night can be significantly beneficial in reducing pain scores.

5 . Mental Health

Focusing on alleviating stressors and practicing calming techniques such as meditation and mindfulness can bring about large change.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I had mentioned it above but feel strongly that thinking about food as medicine can create significant change in so many different aspects of health. The implications food can have not just on weight and therefore the mechanical load on the body, but also on our mental health, sleep, and even motivation can be significant.

What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?

Online at ThePainCenter.com. We attempt to regularly post webinars and have a video library educating patient on many chronic pain pathologies, along with the latest interventional approaches we offer in addressing these conditions.

Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.

About The Interviewer: Maria Angelova, MBA is a disruptor, author, motivational speaker, body-mind expert, Pilates teacher and founder and CEO of Rebellious Intl. As a disruptor, Maria is on a mission to change the face of the wellness industry by shifting the self-care mindset for consumers and providers alike. As a mind-body coach, Maria’s superpower is alignment which helps clients create a strong body and a calm mind so they can live a life of freedom, happiness and fulfillment. Prior to founding Rebellious Intl, Maria was a Finance Director and a professional with 17+ years of progressive corporate experience in the Telecommunications, Finance, and Insurance industries. Born in Bulgaria, Maria moved to the United States in 1992. She graduated summa cum laude from both Georgia State University (MBA, Finance) and the University of Georgia (BBA, Finance). Maria’s favorite job is being a mom. Maria enjoys learning, coaching, creating authentic connections, working out, Latin dancing, traveling, and spending time with her tribe. To contact Maria, email her at angelova@rebellious-intl.com. To schedule a free consultation, click here.