Information for Persons with Pain

MassPI offers the following Facts Sheets to assist persons with pain:

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) in Pain Management

This is a group of diverse health care services and products that are not generally considered conventional medicine. Conventional medicine (known as Western or allopathic medicine) is practiced by MDs (medical doctor), DOs (doctor of osteopathy), and by other health professionals (frequently called allied health professionals by the medical community). CAM includes the following:

Complementary medicine is used in addition to conventional medicine

Alternative medicine is used in place of conventional medicine

Integrative (or integrated) medicine combines both conventional and CAM treatments.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), established by Congress in late 1998, is the Government's lead agency for scientific research on CAM and is 1 of 27 centers that make up the National Institute of Health (NIH) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Additional information about CAM therapy modalities and what is know known about their effectiveness in treating pain can be found at NCCAM web site at http://nccam.nih.gov. Look for the Chronic Pain and CAM: At a Glance link (http://nccam.nih.gov/health/pain/chronic.htm) or call toll-free 1-888-644-6226 for more information.