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Chronic pain is a common reason for medical attention and its proper management requires a multidisciplinary approach, including non-pharmacological measures. This study seeks to determine the characteristics of the prescription of non-pharmacological measures for the management of chronic pain.
METHODOLOGY: An observational cross-sectional study was carried out by applying a questionnaire to 127 primary care physicians from the CSS Metropolitan Region´s Polyclinics between March and April 2023, where the Fisher´s exact test and chi square test were performed to assess statistical significance in the differences between groups.
RESULTS: 94% of the physicians surveyed regularly see patients with chronic pain, and 86% use non-pharmacological measures in their treatment.
Among the measures used, physical rehabilitation (39%) and lifestyle changes (38%) were the most frequent. However, the main limitations identified were lack of time (35%) and lack of resources (32%). In addition, the most common diagnosis associated with the use of these measures was chronic pain secondary to osteoarthritis (32%).
CONCLUSIONS: Non-pharmacological measures are widely used for the management of chronic pain in primary care, although there are limitations to their use. However, more complex studies are needed to help evaluate the need for and impact of these measures on patients with chronic pain.
