Doctor Profile: Timothy Miller, M.D.
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Dr. Timothy Miller grew up in Wellman, Iowa, which is right outside of Iowa City. That made his choice of college and medical school easy with the University of Iowa in his back yard. Not surprisingly, he’s a Hawkeye fan through and through. He also takes his physical fitness very seriously by staying in shape running and lifting weights. He’s got two kids (a daughter who’s a senior and a son who’s a freshman) in high school and commutes to Davenport from his home in Iowa City.
“I encourage patients to think about where they want to be at age 50, 60 and 70 and then have them set goals to get there.”
What inspired you to become a doctor?
My father always wanted to go to college and become a doctor. Being the oldest child, he was needed on the family farm. He died when I was 10 and never got to live that dream. At that point, I decided I wanted to become a doctor. Although I didn’t know what specialty I would go into, I never waivered from wanting to be a doctor from that point on.
Talk about your interest in pain management.
I was always interested in oncology when I was going through medical school. I also did a fellowship in anesthesiology when I was in medical school. Pain management was a good marriage between those two things. I also felt that since not a lot was known about it, that it would be a field that would grow. That has certainly been the case.
How is the field of pain management changed over the course of your career, and how does that affect the way patients are treated and recover?
Pain management has become more specific in recent years. We understand how to impact and change pain sensations better at the local site of pain, spinal cord and brain. In the next 10 years we will have a method to repair the lumbar disc and stop the No. 1 cause of pain in the low back.
How does your practice work with other specialties?
We work very closely with neurosurgeons, spine specialists, orthopaedic doctors and physical therapy. It all can be related so it’s good that we have all of these resources available within the Mississippi Valley Health Network.
What do you feel is the top healthcare issue facing patients today?
Access to the proper health care. The answers are out there, it’s just not always easy for patients to figure out where to go to get the proper health care. Another is a lack of fitness.
How do you address that with your patients?
I encourage patients to think about where they want to be at age 50, 60 and 70 and then have them set goals to get there. You can fix things acutely, but if you don’t change what started the pain in the first place, you’re going to have the same issue again. Note: Dr. Miller practices what he preaches. He runs about 3-4 miles a day and works out with moderate weights for 30 minutes about four times a week.
Pain doesn’t have to overtake your life. For more information on pain management and the resources available to you, call the Mississippi Valley Pain Clinic at (563) 344-6654.
