05/09/2006 - Stockholm - Patients often experience better pain relief when offered several different treatments while alternative pain relief methods like acupuncture may also offer relief, a comprehensive review said Wednesday.
The Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care, SBU, said treatments that 'combine several methods offer better pain relief and shorter sick leave periods' than for instance just prescribing pain-killers.
SBU commissioned experts to analyze available research on methods used to treat long-term pain, defined as lasting more than three months.
Among methods that could offer pain relief was acupuncture in patients with long-term lower back pain and so called tennis elbow.
In some cases, patients suffering pain from osteoarthritis or nerve pain due to shingles (herpes zoster), diabetes and stroke experienced relief from certain medications.
Acupuncture was one alternative method that could offer pain relief in patients with long-term lower back pain and so called tennis elbow.
Patients suffering from muscle or skeletal pain who were offered both psychological assistance as well as physiotherapy had fewer sick days than patients simply offered a single treatment, the survey said.
Long-term pain was estimated to cost Sweden some 7.5 billion kronor (970 million dollars) in medical costs and 80 billion kronor (10 billion kronor) in indirect costs, like sick leave and loss of production, SBU said.
Citing interviews with patients, the researchers said reduced pain improved quality of life.
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