title: Complementary and alternative medicine therapies for chronic pain.
abstract: Pain afflflicts over 50 million people in the US, with 30.7% US adults suffering with chronic pain. Despite advances in therapies, many patients will continue to deal with ongoing symptoms that are not fully addressed by the best conventional medicine has to offer them. The patients frequently turn to therapies outside the usual purview of conventional medicine (herbs, acupuncture, meditation, etc.) called complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Academic and governmental groups are also starting to incorporate CAM recommendations into chronic pain management strategies. Thus, for any physician who care for patients with chronic pain, having some familiarity with these therapies-including risks and benefits-will be key to helping guide patients in making evidence-based, well informed decisions about whether or not to use such therapies. On the other hand, if a CAM therapy has evidence of both safety and efficacy then not making it available to a patient who is suffering does not meet the need of the patient. We summarize the current evidence of a wide variety of CAM modalities that have potential for helping patients with chronic pain in this article. The triad of chronic pain symptoms, ready access to information on the internet, and growing patient empowerment suggest that CAM therapies will remain a consistent part of the healthcare of patients dealing with chronic pain.
authors.affiliation: Division of Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, 55905, USA. Bauer.brent@mayo.edu.
authors.forename: Brent A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.affiliation: Division of Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, 55905, USA.
authors.forename: Jon C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Tilburt
authors.affiliation: Division of Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, 55905, USA.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sood
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, 55905, USA.|Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100053, China.
authors.forename: Guang-Xi
authors.initials: GX
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100053, China.|Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, 55905, USA.
authors.forename: Shi-Han
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*; D000529:Complementary Therapies; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008405:Massage; D026441:Mind-Body Therapies; D010919:Placebos
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D010919:Placebos
keywords: chronic pain; complementary and alternative medicine; safety and efficacy; therapy