What Are Other Strategies Besides Medication for Managing Chronic Pain? (0:49)
Besides medications, other treatment options used to manage chronic pain can include physical or occupational therapy, e-stimulators, ultrasound and osteopathic treatments. Watch family medicine physician Jennifer Caudle, DO, describe these options.
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Chronic pain can mean lots of things, lots of different things for lots of different people. Remember chronic pain also means that there has been some sort of pain that's going on for at least three months, but having a proper diagnosis for the cause of the pain is really the most important. Once you have a diagnosis understand that there are many possible treatment options that exist beyond just medications.
For some people physical therapy is the right option, maybe occupational therapy. Maybe e-stimulators or ultrasound treatments might be a good option. For some osteopathic manipulable treatment is a great idea, even massage can sometimes help. But also remember that there are the modalities to be used some patients will need further testing, and you may also need to be referred to a specialist, so keep in mind that with chronic pain there are lots of different treatment options that do exist.
Jennifer Caudle, DO, is a board-certified family medicine physician and graduate of Princeton University. She is currently an assistant professor in the department of Family Medicine at Rowan University-School of Osteopathic Medicine.
