Journal of Pain & Relief
Open Access

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic pain in geriatric patients represents a very common complaint in our daily clinical routine. The Geriatric Day Hospital at the Nuremberg Medical Center developed a novel therapeutic concept particularly designed for the treatment of the elderly multimorbid patients (average 75 years) with chronic pain. In the multimodal targeted therapy program, principally non-pharmacological measures are used to treat chronic pain i.e., a newly conceived pain education. Evaluation of initial results will be examined to find out how geriatric patients suffering from chronic pain can exert a positive influence on their well-being and activity by helping themselves. Methods: Checks at the beginning and end of the procedure will be undertaken and evaluated in a geriatric assessment i.e. psychological (Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale HADS) and physical parameters (Short Physical Performance Battery SPPB, Tinetti-Test). Results: The program helped for the first time to visibly increase the wellbeing of the 166 patients with chronic pain and their daily activities by teaching them methods to help themselves. At the beginning the higher values of anxiety, depression, inactivity and tendency to fall were at the end clearly improved. Discussion: This investigation should stimulate the discussion which medical parameters for persistent pain in geriatric patients can be applied for assessment, diagnosis, follow-up, and treatment.

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