Click the links below to learn more about the evidence for specific non-pharmacological pain treatment methods.
Unmapped Treatment Methods
There are several pain management methods that were not included in this mapping resource primarily due to a lack of published scientific research and resulting evidence. While they did not meet the requirements for inclusion, we do provide some additional information about these methods. Click here for more information.
Key Evidence Resources
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On January 1, 2018, the Joint Commission's revised pain standard included nonpharmacologic options for pain as a scorable element of performance. In support of the Joint Commission's decision, the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine & Health's Pain Task Force published a White Paper to serve as a source for the evidence-base of nonpharmacologic pain strategies as part of comprehensive pain care.
- In 2020, The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Pacific Northwest Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) updated their systematic review report in 2018 that assessed non-invasive non-pharmacological treatments for common chronic pain conditions and the following are their key messages:
- Interventions that improved function and/or pain for ≥1 month:
- Low back pain: Exercise, psychological therapy, spinal manipulation, low-level laser therapy, massage, mindfulness-based stress reduction, yoga, acupuncture, multidisciplinary rehabilitation (MDR).
- Neck pain: Exercise, low-level laser, mind-body practices, massage, acupuncture.
- Knee osteoarthritis: Exercise, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
- Hip osteoarthritis: Exercise, manual therapies.
- Fibromyalgia: Exercise, CBT, myofascial release massage, mindfulness practices, tai chi, qigong, acupuncture, MDR.
- Tension headache: Spinal manipulation.
- Some interventions did not improve function or pain.
- Serious harms were not observed with the interventions.
- Read the full article: Skelly AC, Chou R, Dettori JR, Turner JA, Friedly JL, Rundell SD, Fu R, Brodt ED, Wasson N, Kantner S, Ferguson AJR. Noninvasive Nonpharmacological Treatment for Chronic Pain: A Systematic Review Update. Comparative Effectiveness Review No. 227. (Prepared by the Pacific Northwest Evidence-based Practice Center under Contract No. 290-2015-00009-I.) AHRQ Publication No. 20-EHC009. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; April 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.23970/AHRQEPCCER227.
- Interventions that improved function and/or pain for ≥1 month:
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The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) provides an extensive list of literature reviews on the scientific evidence behind complementary and integrative health treatment methods.
If you would like to read more articles and research about complementary and integrative health therapies, you can do your own review of the scientific evidence by searching Pubmed, a U.S. government citation database of over 32 million scientific papers. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative has provided a guide to using Pubmed.