Integrative Medicine Approach to Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is a common reason for patients to seek medical care. Its cause is generally complex and multifactorial. Patients try various management options with limited or no improvement. Integrative medicine (IM) can offer a means to develop a more comprehensive treatment approach for patients with chronic pain. This approach elicits a broader picture of the patient’s condition and combines conventional medicine with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Immediate and complete relief of chronic pain may be an unrealistic goal, and so it is important to establish appropriate goals of care in the treatment of chronic pain. The following 3 goals are an important starting point when addressing chronic pain: 1. Addressing the patient’s pain in the context of the patient’s life situation, what Giordano and colleagues 1 refer to as the ‘‘patient-specific context’’ 2. Ameliorating the patient’s pain and/or improving quality of life 3. Improving the patient’s risk profile by diminishing their need for polypharmacy, invasive interventions, and unproven alternative therapies.