UVM Integrative Lecture Series: “Effectiveness of Integrative Medicine Interventions: Provided to Patients on Pain Outcomes: via Practice Based Research”
Lecture Type: Online Video (Link Here)
Time: 55 minutes 42 seconds
Date: February 8, 2019
Speakers: Jeffery Dusek, PhD
Topic: Integrative Pain Research
Introduction
Dr. Dusek presents a lecture on using integrative medicine (IM) to manage pain. He explains practice-based research findings and how IM techniques can improve pain levels in patients with clinical significance.
Dr. Dusek has a PhD in BioPsychology with post-doctoral training in Neuroscience. He is an Associate Professor at Case Western University and Director of Research at University Hospitals Coner Whole Health.
This lecture was recorded live and posted to YouTube. You can view the lecture directly by clicking the link here. Please note, this video ends around 55 minutes, not 2 hours and 24 minutes. This seems to be a recording/editing error.
You can access the accompanying PDF of the presentation here.
Clinical Practice Research
Chronic pain is a prevalent issue in the United States which affects an estimated 100 million adults in the United States, costing $560 to $635 billion dollars annually. The pain burden is also connected to the opioid addiction crisis.
Integrative medicine is increasingly studied for its potential benefits to manage pain and decrease reliance on prescription medications. Dr. Dusek does just that. Dr. Dusek uses a practice-based model of studying the impact of integrative therapies on pain in the clinical setting. This demonstrates how effective these therapies are in real-world settings. While this is not as scientifically rigorous as human clinical research or controlled studies (which compare therapies to a baseline, standard treatment, or placebo to determine efficacy), clinical practice observational studies create patient-level clinical data to inform whether these therapies are helpful.
Dr. Dusek and colleagues worked in a variety of healthcare settings. They use simple pre- and post-intervention survey data to determine the effectiveness of the integrative therapy that was utilized. For example, pain scores are typically rated 0 to 10, with 0 being no pain at all and 10 being severe pain. If there is a 1.7-point decrease in pain found for patients after integrative medicine treatment, then the therapy is found to be clinically significant and therefore effective to manage pain.
Keep in mind, this is a simple description of complex research. If you would like to learn more about how Dr. Dusek used electronic health record data, or the specific parameters of his study techniques, I encourage you to watch the lecture!
Research Results:
Below are some findings from Dr. Dusek and his team on studying integrative medicine to treat pain:
- For 1,837 hospitalized patients that experienced pain who received an individualized integrative medicine treatment (acupuncture, acupressure, therapeutic massage, reflexology, mind/body therapies, energy healing, music therapy, aromatherapy) there was an average pain reduction in 1.9 points on a 10-point pain scale. This accounted for a 55% decreased in pain reduction.
- For a joint replacement group of 1,977 participants who received acupuncture, there was a 1.91 point decreased in pain on a 10-point pain scale. This was a 45% decreased in pain for patients who had joint replacement surgery.
- For an oncology group of 1,514 participants who received an IM therapy, there was a 46.9% decreased in pain and 56.1 decreased in anxiety.
- For a cardiovascular group of 5,981 participants who received an IM therapy there was a 46.5% decreased in pain and 54.8% decreased in anxiety.
- According to a retrospective analysis of electronic health record data, of a total of 2,730 patients who received IM for pain there was an average reduction in pain of 2.05 points on a 10-point scale and a savings of $898 per hospital visit.
Based on these, and other studies noted, Dr. Dusek and his team found common trends. First, short-term pain and anxiety were reduced in the inpatient setting for various disease populations. Receiving integrative medical therapies reduced total healthcare costs. In addition, there was a longer-term benefit (measured to 5 hours) observed in pain reduction.
Questions for the Future
Integrative medicine has been shown to improve pain management. Despite this, there are still questions that need to be answered.
- Are these improvements in pain scores enough to improve functionality so those with pain can go back to work?
- Which IM therapies are associated with the best pain relief?
- What is the optimal dose of IM therapies?
- How long do benefits of IM therapies last?
Dr. Suek plans to answer many of these questions through his current and future research. I look forward to learning more about his most recent work since 2019.
Concluding Thoughts
Dr. Dusek shows that there is a benefit to using integrative medicine therapies to decrease pain. This is significant because it not only helps people live with less pain, but it may also help to decrease reliance on prescription pain medications. This does not suggest that medication needs, or should, be abandoned. Instead, it challenges current best practices for medical care. With the goal of providing comprehensive individualized treatment that improves the quality of life of patients, our healthcare field in the United States is certainly increasing in knowledge on how Integrative Medicine will help us do just that.
You can view the lecture directly by clicking the link here.
Citation
Dusek, J. (2019, February 8). Effectiveness of Integrative Medicine Interventions: Provided to Patients on Pain Outcomes: via Practice Based Research. [Lecture Recording]. University of Vermont Laura Mann Integrative Health Care Lecture Series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU8wQiyx62k
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