Summary
Brief Video Highlight
The Dr. Lawrence H. and Roberta Cohn Forums
THE CHRONIC PAIN EPIDEMIC: What’s to Be Done?
Presented by The Forum at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health jointly with The Huffington Post
Thursday, November 10, 2016
In association with Harvard Health Publications
More than 100 million Americans struggle with chronic pain, according to one Institute of Medicine estimate, at an annual cost of as much as $635 billion in treatment and lost productivity. Further, the misuse of potent opioid painkillers, while increasing risk of addiction and abuse, can confuse the conversation around appropriate chronic pain management. This Forum brought together a panel of experts to discuss the causes, treatment and impact of chronic pain, exploring the neuroscience behind the pain experience. The panelists examined how clinicians can best serve their patients, highlighting the recommendations of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ recent National Pain Strategy. The Forum also looked at myriad pain management options, including marijuana and mindfulness meditation. And panelists examined relevant pain care policies, including prescription monitoring program regulations, drug development and funding for research.
Part of: Policy Controversies, The Dr. Lawrence H. and Roberta Cohn Forums.
Presented jointly with The Huffington Post
Background Articles
- Pain Education and Advocacy
University of New England - American Chronic Pain Association
- National Pain Strategy
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - U.S. Pain Foundation
- Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee
NIH - Neuropathy Commons
MGH - National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
- Pain Research Forum
- Harvard Health Publications
- Objective evidence that small-fiber polyneuropathy underlies some illnesses currently labeled as fibromyalgia
Pain - Study finds evidence of nerve damage in around half of fibromyalgia patients
MGH press release - Nerve damage may underlie widespread, unexplained chronic pain in children
MGH press release - Evidence of Small-Fiber Polyneuropathy in Unexplained, Juvenile-Onset, Widespread Pain Syndromes
Pediatrics - Fibromyalgia: New Research Helps Unravel the Mystery
Bottom Line Health - An Unnerving Enigma: New Clues to Fibromyalgia's Origins Could Crack the Case of Chronic Pain
Scientific American - Hiding in Plain Sight: A Case of Tarlov Perineural Cysts
The Journal of Pain - Case 7-2013 — A 77-Year-Old Woman with Long-Standing Unilateral Thoracic Pain and Incontinence
The New England Journal of Medicine - Treatment of 213 Patients with Symptomatic Tarlov Cysts by CT-Guided Percutaneous Injection of Fibrin Sealant
American Journal of Neuroradiology
Image Credit: iStock.com/ironstealth
