A general surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery on patients. General surgeons typically perform common surgeries and have attended college and medical school to learn the skills needed to perform them successfully. They also care for their patients before and after operations and can give an accurate prognosis after the surgery is complete and the patient has had time to heal.

The subspecialty of interventional pain management aims to help patients who are suffering from all types of pain by using invasive interventions. This may include anything from nerve blocks to implantable drug delivery systems to spinal cord stimulation. This kind of treatment is often helpful for patients who have long-lasting pain that cannot be easily managed with medication or other means of pain management. Therefore, these treatments are usually reserved for those with serious pain problems.