Dr. Huntington Hapworth was first drawn to the field of pain management by the opportunity to relieve suffering, improve functionality, establish continuity of care and the ability to establish relationships with patients.
“As an anesthesiologist, my job was to help guide patients through the surgical process as safely and with as little pain as possible but we never developed a therapeutic relationship with our patients,” he said. “In pain management, there are some patients we can intervene and resolve their pain problem expeditiously while other patients face greater challenges. For those patients with more chronic and complex pain issues, we work as a team with the patient and get to follow them over time, working to minimize their pain and maximize their function and quality of life.”
Dr. Hapworth earned his bachelor and medical degrees from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He completed an internship at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. and an anesthesiology residency at the University of Alabama at the Birmingham School of Medicine. He returned to his Charlottesville alma mater, the University of Virginia, to finish a pain medicine fellowship.
He joined the Pain Consultants of Alabama, LLC D/B/A Comprehensive Pain and Rehabilitation in 2007 and later added the Pain Consultants of ASC, LLC in 2011. “I enjoy educating my patients and helping them understand their pain process to help empower them to achieve relief and engage in treatment,” he said.
He has expertise with radiofrequency ablation treating osteoarthritic spinal disease. Through his work, he has been able to provide dramatic relief and functional improvement for elderly patients that have struggled with mobility and activity tolerance. “These patients are so often told “they ‘need to learn to live with it’ because these joints are not particularly well treated with medication or surgery,” Dr. Hapworth said. “The reality is we can make a big difference with a minimally invasive injection technique procedure. This is a steroid free procedure that treats underlying degenerative disease.”
Medication management is part of an overall individualized treatment plan for each patient. “We address the various pain generators/sources and to target various pain pathways in an individualized manner for each patient,” Dr. Hapworth said. “The patient and physician must work together as a team to look at the long term risks and benefits and determine the safest, most effective medication regimen.”
Dr. Hapworth knows every patient’s pain is different. “We have to look at each and every patient’s anatomy, pain pathology, pain experience and treatment history individually,” he said. “One size does not fit all when it comes to treatment and we have to tailor treatment to meet the goals of our patient.”
Away from the office, Dr. Hapworth likes to read, cook, travel and spend time with his family.
