Some suggestions for pain physicians working in real-world clinical settings

Abstract

Musculoskeletal pain is a common reason for patients visiting hospitals or clinics. Various therapeutic tools including oral medications, physical modalities, and procedures have been used to alleviate musculoskeletal pain. Numerous clinical trials have been conducted to demonstrate the therapeutic effect of each treatment and compare the efficacy of different protocols. These trials were conducted under controlled conditions with specific endpoints and timeframes, and the individual constraints of each patient were not considered. We believe that the findings of such studies may not accurately reflect clinical reality in real-world settings. In this article, we propose treatment principles for patients in pain clinics. We propose two principles for pain treatment: first, “Healing, in the end, is not healing.” and second, “The patient’s job is not a patient.” The main role of pain physicians is to quickly and actively reduce pain and help patients focus on their work and lives.