Integration of Mobile Health Technology in the Treatment of Chronic Pain

Abstract

This article provides a critical overview and best-evidence synthesis of the use of mobile health (mHealth) technology among persons with chronic pain and their health care providers and examines the future benefits and barriers of implementing mHealth technology in clinical care. We critically review articles about electronic pain diaries, pain assessment programs, text messaging, and smartphone pain apps for management of persons with pain. Also presented are findings on the utility of activity trackers and use of telehealth to deliver cognitive behavioral therapy. Finally, barriers, study gaps, and future challenges of incorporating mobile technology for chronic pain are discussed. Although the future of mHealth technology and telemedicine in clinical practice is promising, this critical review highlights the need for rigorous studies to establish an association of the use of mHealth technology with improved quality of life, functional autonomy, and decreased hospital use.

Telemonitoring in Chronic Pain Management Using Smartphone Apps: A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Usual Assessment against App-Based Monitoring with and without Clinical Alarms

“…In fact, although it has been argued that mobile technology (mHealth)—especially the use of smartphone apps—facilitates this paradigm shift towards telemonitoring in chronic pain care, reviews on this topic have evidenced that randomized controlled trials (RCT) evaluating the usefulness of these tools are lacking in the chronic pain literature [ 39 , 41 , 43 , 44 , 45 ]. Therefore, the current investigation constitutes an important step forward into the literature on this important public health condition.…”

Mobile Applications for Pain Management: Scoping Review (Preprint)

“…However, the five apps that are unusable due to registration and crashing issues are all free apps, and four apps offering high-quality services (our top 4 apps) are all paid apps; these apps are Conclusions drawn from previous studies [12,13,22,23,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] revealed a wide variation in the quality of pain management apps (functions, interface design, and usability) available in the app stores. We found that there is still a great deal of quality variation in the 15 pain apps that were updated or released within the last year.…”

“…At least 11 review articles have been published evaluating pain management apps since 2011 [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Among them, 3 studies deal with specific forms of pain such as low back pain [21], postoperative pain [24], and pediatric pain [18].…”

A Systematic Literature Review of the Design Approach and Usability Evaluation of the Pain Management Mobile Applications

“…To deal with the situation, pain management provides ways to assess and manage pain effectively and improve the quality of life [4]. Mobile technology plays an effective role in pain management by providing mobile applications as a non-pharmacological approach to cope with chronic pain [5][6][7][8]. The role of pain management mobile applications can also contribute to information sharing with patients by educating them for self-management and improving their quality of life [9,10].…”

“…The role of pain management mobile applications can also contribute to information sharing with patients by educating them for self-management and improving their quality of life [9,10]. However, more studies are required to measure the impact [8]. In this way, better health service and communication could be established between the healthcare professionals and patients [11,12].…”