Relieving Pain In America

Chronic pain costs the nation up to $635 billion each year in medical treatment and lost productivity. The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act required the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to enlist the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in examining pain as a public health problem. In this report, the IOM offers a blueprint for action in transforming prevention, care, education, and research, with the goal of providing relief for people with pain in America. To reach the vast multitude of people with various types of pain, the nation must adopt a population-level prevention and management strategy. The IOM recommends that HHS develop a comprehensive plan with specific goals, actions, and timeframes. Better data are needed to help shape efforts, especially on the groups of people currently underdiagnosed and undertreated, and the IOM encourages federal and state agencies and private organizations to accelerate the collection of data on pain incidence, prevalence, and treatments. Because pain varies from patient to patient, healthcare providers should increasingly aim at tailoring pain care to each person's experience, and self-management of pain should be promoted. In addition, because there are major gaps in knowledge about pain across health care and society alike, the IOM recommends that federal agencies and other stakeholders redesign education programs to bridge these gaps. Pain is a major driver for visits to physicians, a major reason for taking medications, a major cause of disability, and a key factor in quality of life and productivity. Given the burden of pain in human lives, dollars, and social consequences, relieving pain should be a national priority.

Drug overdose, driven largely by overdose related to the use of opioids, is now the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. The ongoing opioid crisis lies at the intersection of two public health challenges: reducing the burden of suffering from pain and containing the rising toll of the harms that can arise from the use of opioid medications. Chronic pain and opioid use disorder both represent complex human conditions affecting millions of Americans and causing untold disability and loss of function. In the context of the growing opioid problem, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an Opioids Action Plan in early 2016. As part of this plan, the FDA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a committee to update the state of the science on pain research, care, and education and to identify actions the FDA and others can take to respond to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on informing FDA's development of a formal method for incorporating individual and societal considerations into its risk-benefit framework for opioid approval and monitoring.

Pain is a leading cause of disability globally. The dramatic increase in opioid prescriptions within the past decade in the United States has contributed to the opioid epidemic the country currently faces, magnifying the need for longer term solutions to treat pain. The substantial burden of pain and the ongoing opioid crisis have attracted increased attention in medical and public policy communities, resulting in a revolution in thinking about how pain is managed. This new thinking acknowledges the complexity and biopsychosocial nature of the pain experience and the need for multifaceted pain management approaches with both pharmacological and nonpharmacological therapies. The magnitude and urgency of the twin problems of chronic pain and opioid addiction, combined with the changing landscape of pain management, prompted the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a workshop on December 4â€"5, 2018, in Washington, DC. The workshop brought together a diverse group of stakeholders to discuss the current status of nonpharmacological approaches to pain management, gaps, and future directions. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Acute Pain Medicine is the first comprehensive, case-based text of its kind that explores the essential topics of acute pain medicine, including interventional, pharmacologic, and diagnostic considerations. Written and edited under the auspices of the American Academy of Pain Medicine by members of the Academy's Shared Interest Group for Acute Pain Medicine, the text includes an introduction to acute pain medicine and an easily referenced interventional section. Chapters focus on patients experiencing acute pain from either surgery or other medical conditions and include detailed information on the diagnosis and treatment of specific cases in acute pain medicine. The text is rounded out by the complete content of the thoroughly revised Military Advanced Regional Anesthesia and Analgesia Handbook (MARAA II). Although the MARAA handbook gained its reputation as a useful resource for managing the pain associated with battlefield trauma, its beautifully illustrated step-by-step guidance is useful for providing vital acute pain services in all settings. Acute Pain Medicine is an ideal, complete resource for physicians, fellows, and residents managing acute pain patients.

Dr. John E. Sarno's groundbreaking research on TMS (Tension Myoneural Syndrome) reveals how stress and other psychological factors can cause back pain-and how you can be pain free without drugs, exercise, or surgery. Dr. Sarno's program has helped thousands of patients find relief from chronic back conditions. In this New York Times bestseller, Dr. Sarno teaches you how to identify stress and other psychological factors that cause back pain and demonstrates how to heal yourself--without drugs, surgery or exercise. Find out: Why self-motivated and successful people are prone to Tension Myoneural Syndrome (TMS) How anxiety and repressed anger trigger muscle spasms How people condition themselves to accept back pain as inevitable With case histories and the results of in-depth mind-body research, Dr. Sarno reveals how you can recognize the emotional roots of your TMS and sever the connections between mental and physical pain...and start recovering from back pain today.

With support from the Open Society Institute International Palliative Care Initiative, Human Rights Watch released a groundbreaking report on the lack of access to pain relief medicines for millions of patients worldwide. The report, "Please Don't Make Us Suffer Anymore": Access to Pain Treatment as a Human Right, finds that countries can significantly improve access to pain medications by addressing the causes of their poor availability, which include the following: *Failure to put in place functioning supply and distribution systems *Absence of government policies to ensure medicine availability *Insufficient instruction for health care workers *Excessively strict drug-control regulations *Fear of legal sanctions among healthcare workers. "Please Don't Make Us Suffer Anymore" notes that international law requires states to make narcotic drugs available for the treatment of pain while preventing abuse, but that the strong international focus on preventing abuse of such drugs has led many countries to neglect that obligation. The full report is available in PDF format. French, Russian, and Spanish versions are available on the HRW website.

Childhood pain is a widespread problem, yet it often goes untreated. Drawing on the latest research, two leading voices on pediatric pain show parents and medical practitioners how to handle children’s pain, from bumps and bruises to chronic illnesses, providing strategies that make a real difference in kids’ lives.

Cancer Pain Management, Second Edition will substantially advance pain education. The unique combination of authors -- an educator, a leading practitioner and administrator, and a research scientist -- provides comprehensive, authoritative coverage in addressing this important aspect of cancer care. The contributors, acknowledged experts in their areas, address a wide scope of issues. Educating health care providers to better assess and manage pain and improve patientsrsquo; and familiesrsquo; coping strategies are primary goals of this book. Developing research-based clinical guidelines and increasing funding for research is also covered. Ethical issues surrounding pain management and health policy implications are also explored.