Author: Mi-Hyon Cho1, Aditya Arya1, Jose A Fernandez2
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup> VA Hudson Valley Health Care System, Wappingers Falls, New York.
<sup>2</sup> New York Medical College/Metropolitan, New York, New York.
Conference/Journal: Integr Med (Encinitas)
Date published: 2021 Apr 1
Other:
Volume ID: 20 , Issue ID: 2 , Pages: 26-30 , Word Count: 142
Chronic pain is a condition affecting millions of Americans annually. Veterans, as a population cohort, are often afflicted with chronic pain that is more complex, with higher rates of psychiatric and social comorbidities when compared to the general population. In this case report, we describe a veteran with major depressive disorder and alcohol abuse afflicted by high-impact chronic pain, initially treated and then maintained on high dose opioids developing dependency, who was successfully weaned off and achieved adequate pain management using complementary and alternative medicine, namely Qi gong. We conclude that complementary and alternative medicine offers a safe and effective option in providing pain relief using nonpharmacological means and thus avoiding undesired effects. We postulate that as research in this area increases, the demand for and the availability of complementary and alternative medicine will expand.
PMID: 34377091 PMCID: PMC8325491 (available on 2022-04-01)