PULLMAN, Wash., July 8 (UPI) -- With the help of an Internet-based program, people with chronic pain were able to manage their symptoms and reduce their reliance on opioids by changing negative thinking patterns, increasing physical activity and using relaxation techniques.
The techniques taught by the program can help make patients more confident about their ability to manage pain, which has been linked to higher levels of activity and a higher quality of life, as well as eliminating some of the potential dangers of pain management that is primarily drug-based.
"With negative emotions, you often have that physical response of tension," said Marian Wilson, an assistant professor in the college of nursing at Washington State University, in a press release. "So we really want people with pain to learn they have control and mastery over some of those physical symptoms. Meditation and relaxation can help with that."
Researchers evaluated 92 participants who were randomly assigned to either immediately begin using the 8-week Goalistics Pain Management Program or to a group that was told they were being put on a waiting list for it.
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Wilson said that 4 out of 5 participants enrolled in the program from the start made progress toward reducing or eliminating their use of pain or other unspecified medications. About half of the group on the waiting list progressed toward goals.
She also said it was significant that patients in the program reported using opioid treatments more responsibly during the study.
Reducing reliance on the drugs is pointed to as one goal of developing alternative forms of pain management as 60 percent of all opioid-related deaths are from people who obtained legitimate prescriptions.
"For many patients, more and more evidence is coming out that if we can get them off the opiates, or reduce their use and help them become more active, they'll actually feel better," Wilson said. "Plus they won't be at risk for death from opioid overdose, which they're at risk for now because you often have to keep increasing the opioid dose to get the same pain relief."
The study is published in Pain Management Nursing.
