An Integrative Chronic Pain Management Program

Socioeconomically vulnerable patients experience high rates of pain, barriers to care, and greater risks from conventional pain treatments. Multimodal, nonpharmacologic approaches are recommended as firstline treatments for pain but are often unavailable in resource-limited settings. In 2016, a multimodal pain management program was created and evaluated at Tom Waddell Urban Health primary care clinic in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco, a community experiencing high rates of opioid overdose. Dr. Hurstak, an assistant director at the San Francisco Free Clinic in California, talks about the motivation and backstory for the integrative pain program.