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Pain Management

Joint and back pain, and other musculoskeletal ailments, have been the most common diagnoses among Veterans who served in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF). Research shows that pain among military Veterans is both more prevalent and more intense than among non-Veterans.

HSR researchers study how pain affects Veterans’ daily function and quality of life; evaluate screening and assessment tools; seek to understand chronic overlapping pain conditions; and develop and test new treatment approaches, with a particular focus on non-drug, complementary and integrative health practices such as mindfulness, acupuncture, and chiropractic care.

Each section below is populated by a search of the HSR website. Search results are generated based on the search term "Pain Management" . Results are updated as new data are available.

VIEW: Citations | Publication Briefs | Studies | HSR Briefs, Reports, Newsletters | Cyberseminars | Videos | Podcasts | Other Resources



Citations

(recent PAIN MANAGEMENT publications)



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Publication Briefs

(recent PAIN MANAGEMENT Publication Briefs )


  • Giving Veterans an Active Voice in Creating a Veteran-Centered Chronic Pain Research Agenda
    Veterans Action League (VAL) 2.0 was a two-year community engagement project (2019–2021) that sought to develop a national Veteran-centered chronic pain research agenda that includes Veteran-generated recommendations for chronic pain management and chronic pain research priorities. Findings showed that Veterans’ most frequently cited need for chronic pain management and treatment was better access...
    Date: March 23, 2023
  • Research Suggests Battlefield Acupuncture is Immediate but Short-Term Pain Management Tool
    This commentary summarizes work conducted to examine battlefield acupuncture’s (BFA’s) implementation and effectiveness within the VA healthcare system. Findings show that there is some evidence that BFA is a potentially effective, immediate, but short-term pain management tool that can be used in adjunct with other pain therapies. BFA produced a minimal clinically important improvement in pain fo...
    Date: March 26, 2021
  • Integrated Pain Team Programs Improve Outcomes for Chronic Pain and May Reduce Reliance on High-Risk Opioid Therapy
    This study examined changes in self-reported chronic pain-, opioid-, and treatment-related outcomes among Veterans with chronic pain following the implementation of a primary care-based biopsychosocial Integrated Pain Team (IPT) model within the San Francisco VA Health Care System. Findings showed that Veterans with chronic pain who engaged in the IPT program reported improvement in several outcom...
    Date: February 25, 2020
  • Pain Medicine Supplement Features Articles by VA Researchers
    This Pain Medicine Supplement highlights health services research conducted by HSR&D investigators at the Pain Research, Informatics, Multimorbidities and Education (PRIME) Center of Innovation in West Haven, CT, as well as other pain researchers. Serving as the only federally funded national pain center, PRIME played a leadership role in the HSR&D-sponsored state-of-the-art conference “Non-pharma...
    Date: September 1, 2018
  • Racial/Ethnic and Gender Variations in Veteran Satisfaction with VA Healthcare
    This study of Veterans’ satisfaction with outpatient, inpatient, and specialist care in a diverse sample of Veterans from predominantly minority-serving VAMCs sought to better understand racial/ethnic and gender variations in healthcare satisfaction. Findings showed generally high levels of healthcare satisfaction across 16 domains, with 83% of respondents somewhat or very satisfied with VA health...
    Date: March 1, 2018

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Studies

(recent PAIN MANAGEMENT projects )

Project No.  Title  PI  Funding End   
CDA 23-145 Patient-Centered Informatics for Chronic Pain Management Griffin, Ashley 2030-03-31
SDR 24-122 Pain Management Teams Using Whole Health to Optimize Function and Safety in Veterans: The TEAMWORK Trial Edmond, Sara 2029-09-30
CDA 21-015 Addressing Disparities In Pain Management Javier, Sarah 2028-07-31
IIR 22-070 Enhancing an Intervention for Smokers with Chronic Pain using IVR: A Randomized Clinical Trial of Smoking Cessation Counseling for Veterans Bastian, Lori 2028-05-31
IIR 21-207 Evaluating Group-Based Psychological Treatments over Home Video Teleconference for Older Veterans with Chronic Pain Yarns, Brandon 2028-03-31

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HSR Briefs, Reports, Newsletters

“Things Just Need to be More Personal”: Veterans VOICE Their Preferences for Pain Management (01-05-2026)

Forum (08-01-2012)

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Cyberseminars

The most recent "Pain Management" seminars are displayed.

Date Title Presenter(s)
1/28/2026 Evaluating Multimodal Analgesia for Surgery in Veterans: An Instrumental Variable Approach Using Novel Data Sources Graham, Laura  
1/7/2025 Supporting Whole Person Pain Management in the Military Health System Rhon, Dan  
Fritz, Julie  
12/12/2024 Therapist Delivered Massage for Veterans with Chronic Neck Pain: Outcomes from the TOMCATT Trial Munk, Niki  
Bair, Matthew  
12/3/2024 How many chiropractic visits does it take to help Veterans with chronic low back pain? Part 1: Characteristics of the VERDICT sample Long, Cynthia  
Goertz, Christine  
10/1/2024 Implementation of New Physical Therapy Programs for Knee Osteoarthritis in the VA Allen, Kelli  

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Videos


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Podcasts


There are currently no podcasts for this topic.

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Other Resources

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