Pain medicine specialists work with patients to relieve suffering and discomfort that may be present during a medical or surgical procedure, or because of a disease or condition. An anesthesiologist is a physician who has had special training and is board-certified in pain management. A pain medicine specialist can be an anesthesiologist, neurologist, or psychiatrist. This specialist is either the primary physician, or acts as a consultant, to coordinate a patient’s care with other physicians.

For chronic or severe pain, narcotics are often used. Narcotics carry with them a potential for side effects and addiction, so patients and physicians must weigh the level of pain against these concerns in the pain management process.

Doctor density varies by specialty and location. Indiana has 149 practicing pain medicine doctors. Broken out by city, pain medicine doctor density in Anderson is 2, in Angola is 3, in Auburn is 2, in Avon is 2, in Batesville is 1, in Bedford is 1, in Beech Grove is 2, in Bloomington is 7, in Bremen is 3, in Carmel is 5, in Columbia City is 1, in Columbus is 3, in Connersville is 1, in Crown Point is 2, in Decatur is 1, in Dyer is 4, in East Chicago is 4, in Elkhart is 6, in Evansville is 8, in Fishers is 6, in Fort Wayne is 16, in Franklin is 1, in Goshen is 1, in Greenfield is 2, in Hammond is 3, in Hanover is 1, in Highland is 5, in Hobart is 4, in Huntington is 1, in Indianapolis is 44, in Knox is 2, in Kokomo is 4, in La Fayette is 1, in Lafayette is 7, in Lagrange is 1, in Lawrenceburg is 1, in Logansport is 1, in Marion is 2, in Martinsville is 1, in Merrillville is 9, in Michigan City is 1, in Middlebury is 2, in Mishawaka is 4, in Mooresville is 1, in Muncie is 3, in Munster is 14, in Nappanee is 2, in New Albany is 4, in Newburgh is 1, in Noblesville is 4, in Plainfield is 2, in Plymouth is 1, in Portage is 2, in Richmond is 1, in Rochester is 1, in Schererville is 1, in South Bend is 8, in Terre Haute is 4, in Valparaiso is 1, in Vincennes is 2, in Wabash is 2, in Warsaw is 1, and in Washington is 1.

Indiana’s population is 6,271,973, and most of the state’s population is located in the north, near the Lake Michigan shoreline, and is part of the greater metro Chicago area. Indiana became a state in 1816, and boasts many historical sites and covered bridges, numerous state parks and forests, hunting and fishing, and a variety of golf courses. Centrally located Indianapolis is home to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, hosting the world-famous 500-mile auto race every year. This capital and largest city of Indiana also hosts a Civil War museum, a planetarium, and the Indiana Historical Society, among many other attractions.

According to 2005 Census estimates, Indiana has a population of 6,271,973. Of this population, 1,566,280 are under the age of 18 and 774,303 are at or above the age of 65.