Interdisciplinary Pain Management Program for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

Arm pain
Arm pain
Interdisciplinary pain management programs incorporate physical and occupational therapy, pain psychology, medication management, and biofeedback.

Interdisciplinary pain management programs may be an effective treatment for reducing pain, disability, morphine milli-equivalents of opioids, and depression among injured workers with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), according to research that will be presented at the American Academy of Pain Medicine 2018 Annual Meeting in Vancouver, Canada.

Randy Calisoff, MD, and colleagues aimed to determine whether perceived disability, depression, pain, and opioid reduction significantly differed between workers compensation (WC) and non-WC adults with CRPS. The study included 31 WC patients and 50 non-WC patients with CRPS who participated in a full-day, 4-week interdisciplinary pain management program; outcomes were administered pre- and posttreatment. The majority of patients were women (69%) with a median age of 39 years.

The results showed that all patients, regardless of WC status, showed increased pain acceptance and reductions in perceived disability, pain, catastrophic thinking, and morphine milli-equivalents after treatment (P <.005 for all). WC patients were overall more depressed (although both groups showed decreased depression) and used “ignoring and distancing” less frequently than non-WC patients. The research also notes that WC patients did not show reduce anxiety or increased cognitive coping,

Researchers concluded, “[interdisciplinary pain management] may be an effective treatment for reducing pain, disability, depression and MME of opioids in injured workers with CRPS.”

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Reference

Calisoff R, Gagnon C, Sequea D, et al. Effects of a 4-week intensive interdisciplinary pain management program for workers compensation patients’ with complex regional pain syndrome on pain, function and opioid use. Presented at: American Academy of Pain Medicine 2018 Annual Meeting; April 25-29, 2018; Vancouver, Canada. Abstract LB003.