Can Mobile Technology Improve Treatment of Chronic Pain?

Abstract

In the United States, there are 143.3 million people who own a smartphone mobile technology as of July 2013, accounting for 60% of the mobile phone market [1]. Concurrently, approximately 100 million people in the United States are suffering from chronic pain [2]. While the intersection of these two populations is unknown, the portion of the people who do have access to a mobile technology and suffer from chronic pain is likely significant to warrant exploration of the benefits of mobile technology applications on the management of chronic pain.In light of the changes in health care with the Affordable Care Act, physicians are asked to adapt and provide a high level of care more efficiently thus driving the growth of mobile technology usage. Modern-day patients now have the opportunity to quickly access health information on the Internet via ubiquitous smartphones or tablets. Within seconds, they can research treatment options, study disease prognosis, and view videos of surgical procedures online. Although physicians remain the most trusted source of medical information, studies have shown that patients also seek this information online. In 2005, a Health Information National Trends survey reported 63.7% of the 6,369 patients studied searched health-related information prior to visiting their physician.The rise in both mobile technology use and the growing number of available pain management mobile applications has led clinicians to questions what applications are available to their patients. In 2012, Dr. L. Wallace conducted a systematic review of 222 unique pain-related mobile applications to determine their commercial information, including the cost, primary purpose, and involvement by any medical professional in developing the app [3]. The researcher found that most pain-related mobile applications were providing the patient with interactive pain diaries, exercises, and pain-coping strategies to help manage stress, moderate emotional reactions, and maintain an overall balanced lifestyle [4]. However, nearly twothirds of these mobile applications were not designed or edited by licensed health care providers [5]. In fact, according to Dr. Wallace's study, only 27% of the mobile applications had confirmed some participation in design by a physician (MD or DO) and 8% by a nonphysician health care provider.Even if clinician participation in the design of most mobile applications is limited or even absent, the next question becomes: how effective are these applications at helping patients manage their chronic pain? Rosser et al. described several core characteristics that a panel of clinicians and chronic pain patients believed would be important to incorporate into the design of a successful pain management application [6]. These identified characteristics were: supporting awareness of behavioral patterns, encouraging personal goals, and providing access to a real-time therapist.Kristjansdottir et al. examined this topic further in a randomized controlled trial aimed at assessing the efficacy of a mobile technolo...

Evaluation of Self-Management Support Functions in Apps for People With Persistent Pain: Systematic Review

“…Interventions delivered via smartphones are more likely to be easily accessible to a wider population and are scalable [14-16], with smartphone user numbers expected to reach 5 billion in 2020 [17]. Evidence suggests smartphone app use can foster self-management skills in other long-term conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and gout [18-20], and it can potentially deliver behavioral interventions to people living with persistent pain [21,22]. For example, pain apps have been generally classified to (1) provide general information on pain, including symptom identification and planning treatments, (2) track daily symptoms such as pain intensity, mood, daily activity, and medications, and (3) provide information on self-management strategies [23].…”

PaiNEd app. Assessing central sensitization in survivors of breast cancer: A reliability study

“… 40 This exponential growth underscores the significant role these apps now play in multimodal treatment approaches, 26 potentially reinforcing behavioral changes among chronic pain patients. 41 Furthermore, they offer real-time valuable information to health care professionals, 42 , 43 enabling the identification of factors such as catastrophic or kinesiophobic thoughts through in-app questionnaires, 44 as well as tracking daily symptoms such as pain intensity and medication use. 45 Despite these advancements, the reliability of an app designed to assess whether sBCs exhibit symptoms of CS has not yet been investigated.…”

Immediate Effects and Acceptability of an Application-Based Stretching Exercise Incorporating Deep Slow Breathing for Neck Pain Self-management

“…This made it easy to use in the present day and to improve neck pain management. Recently, smartphone applications have been developed to be used in many healthcare areas which has helped to reduce the cost of medical treatment and can also promote self-care practices for chronic disease patients [15,16].…”