Pain management turns to alternative Rxs
Mind-body approach provides relief
Subacute providers are finding that alternative therapy modalities such as relaxation techniques, stress management, biofeedback, and other mind-body techniques give chronic pain patients relief when more traditional approaches have failed.
"We’ve had the pain management program for 15 years at Spaulding and have found that the mind-body approach is much more effective than mechanical range-of-motion and physical therapy techniques," says Rick Leskowitz, MD, consulting psychiatrist to the pain management program at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston.
Spaulding’s pain management program takes an interdisciplinary approach. All patients are evaluated and treated by physical therapy, occupational therapy, physical medicine, and psychological services. Then a program is custom-tailored for each patient based on their assessment and whether they are open to some of the alternative techniques.
All patients learn meditation techniques in a group and are exposed to biofeedback. Those who are interested in continuing either approach may work on it in individual sessions.
Patients are all trained in stress management techniques. They learn mind-fullness meditation, which helps them feel more connected to their bodies, Leskowitz says. The program also uses energy based therapies, such as therapeutic touch, which help people dramatically shift their pain.
"Pain is felt to be a blockage of energy. Some-times it’s on too subtle a level for surgery or medication to have an effect," Leskowitz says.
"Western medicine is focused on things that you can see with your eyes or measure with a machine. It’s the only medicine that does not recognize the energy centers in the body," Leskowitz says.
For instance, an amputee had been treated successfully for phantom limb pain with transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TENS) and medication. She had a dramatic response to her pain with therapeutic touch.
"Many of these patients come to us at the end of their road when surgery and nerve blocks haven’t worked," Leskowitz says.
The Spaulding program tracks depression and utilization of health care resources at admission, six months after discharge, and one year after discharge from the program. The outcomes data shows positive results from the program as a whole, but because it is an interdisciplinary approach, it is impossible to say what component was the most helpful, Leskowitz says.
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