The History of Targeted Pain Treatment
The Targeted Pain Treatment (TPT) methodology was developed by Dr. Stephanie G. Vanterpool as part of her mission to transform the way pain is understood and treated. During her training in anesthesiology, Dr. Vanterpool became fascinated with how the body’s physiology could be guided to promote healing. Her interest deepened with her introduction to pain management at Duke University, where she saw firsthand that patients weren’t just suffering from pain, they were losing the ability to do the things they loved.
As she progressed in her career, Dr. Vanterpool observed a critical gap in traditional pain care: medicine was focused on reducing a pain score rather than restoring function or identifying what was actually causing the pain. This realization became the foundation of her professional mission: to create a paradigm shift in how pain is assessed and treated. This gave birth to the methodology we know as the Targeted Pain Treatment (TPT). With a focus on accurate diagnosis and targeted care, she introduced this structured, evidence-based methodology to help both patients and clinicians identify all contributing sources of pain and treat them precisely to restore function and quality of life.
What is Targeted Pain Treatment?
"What is Targeted Pain Treatment?" by Dr. Stephanie G. Vanterpool
Components of Targeted Pain Treatment
Why is it Useful?
Targeted pain treatment focuses first on accurately identifying all of the causes of the pain that the patient is experiencing, and then targets treatment to the identified causes. This is different from some approaches to pain management that have traditionally focused on lowering the pain score, without always treating the true cause of the pain.
