Pain rehabilitation – outcome of an 8-week rehabilitation program

Karolinska Institutet Danderyds Hospital, Sweden

Abstract

The prevalence of persistent pain has been estimated to be around 20-50% in a normal population. Musculoskeletal related pain is the most common form of persistent pain. In patients with persistent pain there are alterations in the peripheral as well as the central nervous system and patients develop a dysfunctional behaviour which, in many cases, leads to severe suffering for the patient. In the European countries an increasing problem has emerged consisting of more people on long-term sick-leave, increased number of early retirements and high social costs. After an 8-week structured multiprofessional rehabilitation programme at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden 63% of patients with long-standing non-malignant pain returned to work and half of the patients were still at work at a 6-year follow-up. Half of the patients reported pain reduction and almost half of the patients had reduced their consumption of analgesics. The rehabilitation program was estimated as economically beneficial on a society level. It is concluded that pain rehabilitation should have a multiprofessional approach. Pain rehabilitation programs are beneficial for the possibility for the patient to return to work pain and leads to pain reduction in the long run. Furthermore, they are beneficial from a socio-economical aspect.