NON-PHARMACOLOGICAL PAIN MANAGEMENT - AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEW

Abstract

Introduction: Pain, an emotional and unpleasant sensory experience, is an extremely prevalent symptom in patients, and its management is a challenge for doctor sand the healthcare team, which can be divided into non-pharmacological and pharmacological. The aim of this review article is to establish what non-pharmacological measures exist in the literature, their evidence and current recommendations. Methods and Results: The article consists of a integrative literature review using clinical trials, randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses from the Pubmed database as a bibliographic source, and was also supplemented by UpToDate. Discussion: Various non-pharmacological management options such as psychotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy, physical activity, acupuncture, music therapy, neuromodulation, aromatherapy, hypnosis and the use of virtual reality have already been the subject of research as a way of helping to control pain. Conclusion: The different strategies for non-pharmacological pain control lack robust evidence in the literature; however, they are strategies with low risk to the patient, which highlights the importance of their complementary use and new research in the area.