Sifting through the Sand: Chronic Pain, Tech, Health Equity

Chronic pain, medical choices, tech, & health equity converge in a free-wheeling conversation with the Patient-Family Advisor Network chronic pain task force.

Proem

Pain management, medical choices, technology, and health equity all converge during this episode in a free-wheeling conversation with my compatriots from the Patient-Family Advisor Network chronic pain task force. Let’s unpack that stew of an introductory sentence a bit. People with chronic pain need tools and plans to manage their pain. Tools include medication, therapies, exercises, dietary, and more. We choose tools to help us manage pain best when we have a team to help us discover tools, fit the right tool to the right time and circumstances, support our experimentation, and make the whole managing process easier and easier. Technology may or may not help us connect, experiment, and make the process easier. Those of us with chronic pain do not all have access to the same variety of tools and supportive team members. Inequity and institutional racism, sexism, ageism, tribalism, and other power imbalances significantly impact our ability to manage and reduce suffering from pain. In previous episodes, I introduced several projects in which I participate: Reducing opioid use and managing chronic pain from a patient’s point-of-view; developing an app…