An innovative treatment for chronic post-traumatic headaches
With 70,000 Americans dying from opiate overdose last year, Ohio State Wexner Medical Center is taking the lead to create an aggressive, data-driven program that helps people with chronic pain improve their function and decrease their opiate burden. The Chronic Pain Opiate Reduction Clinic uses traditional behavioral and physical activity interventions, but pushes conventional boundaries with innovative, noninvasive brain stimulation techniques.
“We’re using transcranial direct current stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation to help people better control their pain,” says Jerry Mysiw, MD, chair of Ohio State’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. “We’re also incorporating human body sensors for home use to give people with chronic pain immediate biofeedback about how their autonomic nervous system is functioning.”
He says the sensors show in real time what behaviors, activities and food intake aggravate a person’s sympathetic tone, which tends to be out of balance in people with chronic pain.
Dr. Mysiw continues, “This clinic will be data driven to find out what actually improves quality of life, increases socialization and decreases the opiate burden. Anything that doesn’t achieve that will be rejected. Anything that helps will be used as evidence to make it available (and covered by insurance).”
Patient-Centered Approach
After an initial evaluation to ensure a patient’s problem has been appropriately diagnosed and treated, eligible patients meet with one of three physiatrists who will oversee a customized plan of care. A social worker acts as a navigator to help alleviate anxiety, validate the patient's condition and schedule follow-up care.
“We want to decrease the individual’s chronic, constant sympathetic tone with options like physical therapy, behavioral interventions, brain stimulation, biofeedback, improved cardiovascular fitness, yoga, acupuncture and foot massage. These are important in helping people control pain and decrease anxiety and stress.”
Ohio State has an internal funding source that pays for costs not covered by insurance.
