PAIN [CONTINUED FROM PAGE 69]

phine and other narcotics, despite the plethora of side effects from their use, were the treatment of choice for those with chronic pain. Today, opi- oids still play a role, but they often are used in conjunction with other medications or alternative therapies such as acupuncture, massage, yoga, and biofeedback. Increasingly, says Buckenmaier, pain clinics employ a multidisci- plinary, multimodal approach to pain management. “I think it’s the direc- tion we need to go now,” he explains. “Right now, the system is more focused on doing things to patients, particularly interventions, surgeries, that sort of thing. We need to reori- ent the way we value things in medi- cine, in my opinion.” On the military side, DoD and the

VA have improved how pain is di- agnosed and treated among service- members and veterans, Buckenmaier

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notes. In 2009, then-Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Eric. B. Schoomaker chartered the Army Pain Manage- ment Task Force to make recom- mendations for a comprehensive pain-management strategy that would provide improved quality of life for soldiers and others with chronic pain. The resulting report contained 109 recommendations for a holistic, multidisciplinary, and mul- timodal pain-management strategy. In addition, the DVCIPM cre- ated the Pain Assessment Screen- ing Tool and Outcomes Registry, a 20- to 30-minute survey based on instruments developed by the National Institutes of Health that produces a comprehensive clinician report of a patient’s chronic pain. It’s important to note the desired outcome of most pain programs is the management of chronic pain rather than a cure. “The goal of pain management is to improve quality of life, increase function,

PAIN RESOURCES

 National Institute of Neuro- logical Disorders and Stroke: http://1.usa.gov/1x4fQx7  American Chronic Pain Asso- ciation: www.theacpa.org  American Academy of Pain Medicine: www.painmed.org  Defense and Veterans Center for Integrative Pain Manage- ment: www.dvcipm.org  Veterans Health Administra- tion pain management: www .va.gov/painmanagement

and reduce the patient’s sense of suffering,” Cowan says. “There may always be some level of pain, but that doesn’t mean it has to totally control your life.”

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— Don Vaughan is a freelance writer based in North Carolina. His most recent article for Military Officer was “Strike Risk,” May 2015.