Chronic Pain Centre

I have run the gamut of chronic pain services over decades.
This clinic offers limited short term help only, about a ~year. The clinic expects attendance at various classes & workouts which may fit with working chronic pain patients but is totally impractical at best for patients with severe chronic pain (CP). No transportation is provided for severe chronic pain patients that are too limited to participate in such sessions on their own. After ~year the clinic refuses to see patients & stops returning CP patient calls.
Its geared to patients with controllable mild to moderate pain and not for patients with severe pain. It’s not designed for those with severely limiting pain that cannot get themselves to and participate in the clinic’s «make work» services.
After ~1year the clinic won’t return calls and you are back on your own in untreated CP pain patient hell. Exceptions=patients with mild controllable pain that can drive themselves &sign up for the clinic’s many, mostly useless, make work «services», classes, etc. After ~1 year CP patients desperately search for a compassionate working doctor to control pain. The clinic does offer to hook you up with a doctor but there is no guarantee that the doctor will want to be of any help or even take you on as a patient.
The clinic’s medieval therapy is strictly exercise based. No effective modern treatment here like device-​based therapies such as lasers, photodynamic therapy, iontophoresis, ultrasound, etc., just exercises. Keep your expectations low cause that’s what you will get.
Rather than stopping organized crime from dealing drugs& spoilt rich kids from getting hurt by their own criminal activity, society chooses instead to demonize & inflict pain on innocent CP patients. Alberta Gov&College of physicians of Alberta, with mainstream media, have declared war on innocent responsible law abiding chronic pain (CP) patients by demanding blind blanket removal of much needed &responsibly used pain killers like fentanyl, OxyContin, etc. destroying these people.
Organized crime operates unfettered &extremely profitably importing poison from Asia & Mexico and then selling it on the street to other criminals/​drug users. Yes drug users are indeed criminals TOO! For political & criminally complicit reasons by the gov&media, when this illegal activity by criminals/​users causes users health issues, gov&media then re-​direct attention AWAY from criminals.
CP patients are demonized while the only recent gov policy solution proposed for the real victims, CP suffers, is legalizing euthanasia to get rid of CP patients permanently.
In a bizarre evil twist gov & media have wrongfully riveted the problem’s focus on legal pain killer users like myself. They support & glamorize the illegal drug trade by blaming and demonizing innocent suffering CP patients that legally & responsibly using fentanyl etc. while edifying SELF poisoned criminals/​addicts/​drug users.
Street users know the risks of their use of illegal/​recreation drugs. Jail them & detox them but don’t glamorize them& attack innocent users! Most of all deal with the organized crime! Replace dysfunctional useless approach/​laws/​immigration/​technology with a process that exterminates the problem focused on criminals ONLY & not on destroying innocent CP victims.
Gov&media project these users=criminals as innocent victims &blame innocent CP patients for their suffering as a result of the user’s criminal activity. Illegal users are usually spoilt rich kids that knowingly play suicide with their lives by taking street drugs they know are dangerous. Help them but stop glamorizing them. Save compassion and help for those with innocents with valid pain control needs. Save your rage and punishment for criminals and stop criminalizing& destroying innocents like grannies&others with chronic pain!
Total outright denial of chronic pain patients to a doctor’s service is another scam Alberta’s medical community runs. Even the few docs that take CP patients usually only offer partial treatment with a limited pain control medications for a limited time.
The new rage is super expensive, unfunded& patient paid marijuana that’s useless for severe chronic pain. Patients are shocked find that there is no coverage for useless media touted medical marijuana on any plans. Expect your medical pot prescription to cost $ 500 to $ 1000/​month+. Trudeau is expected to totally renege on his pledge to legalize pot in any meaningful way. With billions $$$$ for gov coffers from corporate pot industry’s criminally expensive pot, its highly unlikely people will be allowed to ever grow any pot for their own use. Gov further serves organized crime by forcing desperate pain sufferers to buy illegal drugs or make their own.
The clinic is generally ok for providing basic short term help for mild to moderate chronic pain from doctors. The other make work soap box services: exercice, social&psychological are of limited value at best. Good luck!

Health care doesn’t get much better than this in Canada. A doctor must make the referral to the center. Then you will fill out a application sent by the center. Later you get accepted and meet with your team. This whole process can take more than a year or two for some people or in some cases less than six months.
I was lucky and got in without waiting the usual over a year but then I’m sick as well as in pain. The center offers free classes on all types of important skills for pain management. They have doctors, nutritionists, psychologists, physiotherapists and even social workers on staff to help with your situation.
Each patient has a team tailored to what they need to function better in life and if they needs change then the team will too.
They have comfortable couches and chairs to sit in and waiting times are very short. Most people graduate and phase out of the program around six months but it’s not a set time frame. I’ve been there over a year and closer to two and I’m just graduating now. They make sure that you have everything you need to move on with your life and manage pain on your own first.
While they work hard to help you the program is free and comprehensive so effort is expected on your part. You have to show up for appointments and do the programs they offer that will best benefit you. There are many people waiting on the list to get in here and if you are not taking it seriously then you are wasting the space for someone that will.
The chronic pain center is Alberta health care at its best in a province that needs to do so much better. We need more programs as amazing as this with more money to fund them. I can’t thank the people at the center enough for helping me to manage my pain better. They deserve more recognition.

HERE’s another review that got «lost». Rather than rewrite, check Starsia E.‘s excellent review.
The Chronic Pain Centre has moved to the old Children’s’ Hospital on Richmond Road.
This man is very forthright, stubborn, and wise. I literally trust him with my life! The If you are looking for a soft, mushy yes-​man, he is not your guy. If you want the truth, clear explanations and wisdom, go see Dr. Chary. I cannot say enough good things about him, and that’s rare (for a doctor!)