The last point that we want to make is the most important point when it comes to the treatment of chronic pain and the use of opioid therapy: self-management of pain is an important part of your treatment plan. Active self-management techniques must be included in your treatment plan. Active techniques in the form of mastered self-initiated skills, such as pacing your activities, self-massage, self-relaxation therapy, etc., are important. These techniques, when combined with professional interventions, can have both synergistic and medication-sparing effects. This will allow you to obtain the function and pain relief you desire, while minimizing the amount of opioid medications needed to achieve these goals. As stated earlier in this tutorial, it is important to have a well-rounded treatment plan that incorporates multiple modalities to help control and manage your pain; this will allow a better quality of life and the need for fewer medications, such as opioids. Lifestyle modifications are among the additional modalities that need to be considered. If you have not already done so, we highly recommend that you fully read MyPainTools. It is another part of Coastal Pain’s Chronic Pain Education and Prevention Program.

Now that you have completed this course, you will take a quiz and print a Certification of Completion that can be given to your doctor. If you have time and wish to learn more, please read Additional Information About Opioid Therapy.

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