Integrative Medicine - A Solution to Addressing Opioid Addiction & Chronic Pain Management?

Deaths due to the opioid epidemic continue to rise despite our national efforts. Increases in chronic pain continues to be seen in our country, especially in persons over 65 years of age and within our military and veteran population. It is essential that we look for alternate therapies as opioids are not only addictive, they are also not as effective due to the central and peripheral sensitization. How we treat these ongoing issues has long been evolving and can be seen with the 2022 CDC opioid guidelines recommending integrative therapies for pain patients.

These factors now mandate that those working with chronic pain patients understand the evidence and mechanism of action for effective integrative therapies in pain management. This seminar will provide a foundational basis for the use of effective integrative therapies in pain management for anyone working in the health care field. We will cover the evidence, the mechanisms of action and the best use for the non-opioid integrative therapies for pain management patients. Finally, we will discuss how to incorporate these into medical management of chronic pain.

Following the presentation, attendees will:

• Understand the role of peripheral and central sensitization in chronic pain
• Know the evidence for Integrative Therapies in chronic pain treatment
• Understand the mechanism of action for Integrative therapies for chronic pain

Target Audience: Clinicians treating patients with chronic pain and health care administrators that work in systems that treat chronic pain patients