Affiliation:
1. Associate Professor, Department of Anaesthesia, Government Medical College, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India,
Abstract
Approximately one in ten people suffer from chronic pain globally with pain being the most common reason to seek medical help. Despite the long-term prevalence of pain, the practice of pain management and the scientific discipline of pain research are relatively new fields. To relieve suffering from chronic pain in the ‘fifth vital sign’ era to date remains a 21st-century dilemma for healthcare providers. In the current review article, numerous articles from various pain journals and books for chronic pain management using medical search engines such as PubMed, Scopus, and Google scholar have been reviewed in an attempt to shed light on the approach, evaluation, and management of chronic pain. Along with the same, recent advances in pharmacotherapy and interventional nerve blocks have been discussed in brief.