By Dr. Geoffrey Modest
There have been several articles recently dealing with nonpharmacologic management of chronic pain (see blogs at end). A recent Australian one looked at the effectiveness of an Internet-delivered training intervention, finding remarkable and apparently durable benefit in patients with chronic knee pain (see doi:10.7326/M16-1714).
Details:
- 148 people over 50 years old with chronic knee pain: mean age 61, 56% female, 57% urban/43% rural, mean BMI 31, symptom duration 2-10 years in 50%/> 10 years in 27%, 57% employed/30% retired, 38% on acetaminophen combinations/23% NSAIDs/21% on topical anti-inflammatories/only one person on opiates, 50% anticipated moderate improvement by the intervention/17% anticipated large improvement, 60% used the Internet for social media daily
- Those randomized to the intervention received 3 Internet delivered treatments
- Educational material about exercise and physical activity, pain management, emotions, healthy eating, complementary therapies, and medications. Those in the control group also received this material
- An interactive automated physiotherapist-prescribed home exercise in pain-coping skills training (PCST) called PainCOACH, and were asked to complete eight 35- to 45-minute modules, one per week, and practice pain-coping skills daily
- Seven Skype sessions with a physiotherapist over 12 weeks, sessions lasted 30- 45 minutes(videoconferencing). The physiotherapist performed a brief assessment and prescribed a lower limb strengthening home exercise program to be performed 3 times a week. Exercise progression was monitored. Patients were provided with instructions, video demonstrations, and equipment such as resistive bands and ankle weights.
- Pain was assessed using an 11 point numerical rating scale (NRS) as well as the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) at 3 months. Primary outcomes were pain during walking using the NRS, and physical function using WOMAC. Secondary outcomes were knee pain, quality of life, global change, arthritis self-efficacy/coping/pain catastrophizing.
- The minimum clinically important difference (MCID) for the NRS pain score is 1.8 units, and for the WOMAC physical function subscale is 6 units.
Results:
- The educational material was accessed by 78% of participants in the intervention group and 88% in the control group. Those in the intervention group attended a mean of 6.3 of 7 Skype physiotherapy sessions and completed 6.4 of 8 of the PainCOACH modules. 68% of the prescribed home exercise sessions and 64% of the PCST practice sessions were completed.
- The intervention group had significantly more improvement in pain (mean difference 1.6 units) and physical function (mean difference 9.3 units) versus the control group at 3 months.
- These improvements were sustained at 9 months, with a mean difference of 1.1 units for pain and 7.0 units for physical function.
- In terms of secondary outcomes: there was significant difference between the groups in essentially all of the secondary outcomes
- Adverse events from the intervention were minor, with increased knee pain being most common in both groups but more so in the active intervention group.
Commentary:
- Given the problem with chronic pain meds, be they NSAIDs and their multitude of renal/ GI/cardiovascular complications, or the very significant concerns regarding using opiates for chronic pain, it is reassuring that non-pharmacologic and patient-empowering strategies can be effective.
- And, as we all know, chronic knee pain is remarkably common: the anticipated projection is that 1/2 of US adults will develop knee osteoarthritis by age 85, but 50% of people with symptomatic knee OA are less than 65 yo.
- It is notable that the functional differences in the intervention group were well more than what is considered minimally clinically important improvement, and this was almost reached for pain. It is also notable that these benefits were apparent at 9 months, 6 months after the intervention was over.
- The study had the benefit of having both urban and rural patients, which is especially important for the latter group given their decreased access to face-to-face interventions.
- One limitation of the study is that it seemed that this was a reasonably healthy cohort, given that most anticipated significant improvement by the intervention and most were only on mild analgesics [They did not define what “acetaminophen combinations” were, in either the article or supplement, but I assume these did not include opiate combinations, since they say only one person was on opiates], and participants could not have such severe knee pain that it limited their ability to exercise.
- But, as an encouraging result, we in primary care do see lots of patients who have only mild-to-moderate pain, that meds work variably well (and have their toxicities), and it does seem that the results of this 3-month non-pharmacologic intervention is durable for at least the next 6 months.
- And, it turns out that there currently are a slew of apps available: including Pain Coach (free, but not the same as above), some for back pain exercises, chronic pain relief, several for yoga/meditation, etc. I looked at a couple and they have some useful information, and may be a useful tool to help/empower some patients, though I did not find any as complete as in this study. Let me know if you have found any great ones.
- So, this study reinforces and adds to the growing body of literature that suggest that a cornerstone of chronic pain therapy, this time for the knee, is non-pharmacologic (see other recent blogs below). One hopeful sign in the US is that in 2016, 87% of those older than 50 and 64% older than 65 do use the internet. I.e., if there are education-level appropriate, linguistically-diverse, culturally-sensitive materials available, they might really help people. Even those who are unable to read could benefit from these materials (perhaps with the help of a younger family member….)
For related articles, see:
https://stg-blogs.bmj.com/bmjebmspotlight/2016/06/29/primary-care-corner-with-geoffrey-modest-md-tai-chi-for-knee-oa-mindfulness-for-chronic-pain/ for a review of an article showing the benefits of tai chi,
https://stg-blogs.bmj.com/bmjebmspotlight/2016/04/07/primary-care-corner-with-geoffrey-modest-md-low-back-pain-improves-with-stress-reduction-mindfulness-and-cognitive-behavioral-therapy/ for an article on the benefits of mindfulness stress-reduction and cognitive behavioral therapy
https://stg-blogs.bmj.com/bmjebmspotlight/2016/03/25/primary-care-corner-with-geoffrey-modest-md-new-cdc-guidelines-for-opiate-prescribing/ reports the CDC guidelines, stressing the use of adjuvant meds prior to starting opiates, though giving short shrift to non-pharmacologic therapies and, for a slew of other articles in the folder: https://stg-blogs.bmj.com/bmjebmspotlight/category/pain/ list
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