summary
The rising cost of treating chronic pain is a significant public health problem, and given the aging of our population, one that will continue to grow. Unfortunately, many of the conventional medical interventions that we have to treat pain are better designed to deal with acute pain conditions. As a result, there is an expanding interest by patients in the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments for pain. Recent national surveys indicate that more and more patients are paying out of pocket for CAM treatments and the most common reason for seeking these treatments is persistent pain. Unfortunately, little is known about the appropriate care for patients with chronic pain using any type of treatment, whether with CAM or conventional options. As a result, patients are frequently treated symptomatically with medications that can be addictive in nature and procedures that often are not proven to be effective, all of which can cause a barrage of unwanted side effects. It is in this pain management setting that the growing research that is developing in Chinese herbal treatments among other CAM therapies can provide a perfect counterbalance to conventional approaches to help reintroduce a model of care that is more process oriented and helps move the patient from passive therapies to a more active role in their self-care.
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Euler, D. (2008). Chinese Herbal Medicine for Pain. In: Audette, J.F., Bailey, A. (eds) Integrative Pain Medicine. Contemporary Pain Medicine. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-344-8_21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-344-8_21
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