Pain Management

Non-Pharmacological Approaches for Pain

Non-pharmacological approaches may contribute to effective analgesia and are often well accepted by patients. Some simple measures which are sometimes recommended eg, hot or cold packs have not been well studied. Complementary therapies for pain are often sought out by patients, and require evaluation for their potential role in the palliative care setting. Patient education about managing cancer pain has been studied. A systematic review shows that educational interventions can have a modest but clinically significant impact on pain, and that this is an underutilised strategy. Non- pharmacological methods used in pain management can be classified in different ways. In general, they are stated as physical, cognitive, behavioural and other complementary methods or as invasive or non-invasive methods. Meditation, progressive relaxation, dreaming, rhythmic respiration, biofeedback, therapeutic touching, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, hypnosis, musical therapy, acupressure and cold-hot treatments are non-invasive methods. The most famous and common method among the invasive methods is acupuncture. It is considered that these methods control the gates that are vehicles for pain to be transmitted to the brain and affect pain transmission or the release of natural opioids of the body such as endorphin.