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Current Pain and Headache Reports
Published in: Current Pain and Headache Reports 5/2016

01-05-2016 | Other Pain (N Vadivelu and A Kaye, Section Editors)

Role of Alternative Therapies for Chronic Pain Syndromes

Authors: Donna-Ann Thomas, Benjamin Maslin, Aron Legler, Erin Springer, Abbas Asgerally, Nalini Vadivelu

Published in: Current Pain and Headache Reports | Issue 5/2016

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Abstract

There is increasing interest in the use of complimentary and alternative medicine (CAM) for the treatment of chronic pain. This review examines alternative and complimentary therapies, which can be incorporated as part of a biopsychosocial approach in the treatment of chronic pain syndromes. In the present investigation, literature from articles indexed on PubMed was evaluated including topics of alternative therapies, complimentary therapies, pain psychology, biofeedback therapy, physical exercise therapies, acupuncture, natural and herbal supplements, whole-body cryotherapy, and smartphone technologies in the treatment of chronic pain syndromes. This review highlights the key role of psychology in the treatment of chronic pain. Cognitive behavior therapy appears to be the most impactful while biofeedback therapy has also been shown to be effective for chronic pain. Exercise therapy has been shown to be effective in short-, intermediate-, and long-term pain states. When compared to that in sham controls, acupuncture has shown some benefit for neck pain immediately after the procedure and in the short term and improvement has also been demonstrated in the treatment of headaches. The role of smartphones and whole-body cryotherapy are new modalities and further studies are needed. Recent literature suggests that several alternate therapies could play a role in the treatment of chronic pain, supporting the biopsychosocial model in the treatment of pain states.
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Metadata
Title
Role of Alternative Therapies for Chronic Pain Syndromes
Authors
Donna-Ann Thomas
Benjamin Maslin
Aron Legler
Erin Springer
Abbas Asgerally
Nalini Vadivelu
Publication date
01-05-2016
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Current Pain and Headache Reports / Issue 5/2016
Print ISSN: 1531-3433
Electronic ISSN: 1534-3081
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-016-0562-z

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