Integrative Pain Management

Integrative Pain Management provides an overview of pain physiology, current conventional care options, an understanding of integrative medicine as it applies to pain management, the role of pain practitioners when working collaboratively, and the utilization of an expansive and patient-centered treatment model. This comprehensive guide written by experts in the field provides case examples of pain conditions, reviews common integrative treatments including physical therapy, behavioral strategies, and advanced procedures to maximize function and reduce pain, and extensive further reading resources. Part of the Weil Integrative Medicine Library, this volume offers clinicians treating pain innovative and patient-centered tools for approaching their most difficult cases to improve their approach and outcomes. The book provides access to additional online content that supplements some of the integrative interventions discussed including videos of tai chi in pain management, a demonstration of motivational interviewing as practitioner empowerment, and figures including the STarT Back Screening Tool (SBST) for spine care. Integrative medicine is defined as healing-oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person (body, mind, and spirit) as well as all aspects of lifestyle; it emphasizes the therapeutic relationship and makes use of appropriate therapies, both conventional and alternative. Series editor Andrew Weil, MD, is Professor and Director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. Dr. Weil's program was the first such academic program in the U.S., and its stated goal is "to combine the best ideas and practices of conventional and alternative medicine into cost effective treatments without embracing alternative practices uncritically."

Robert Bonakdar is the Director of Pain Management at the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine in La Jolla, California and an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Andrew W. Sukiennik is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at Tufts Medical School and Winchester Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.