Health

Beyond pills and shots: Pain patients seek other options

Karen Hanlon (left) hugged clinic supervisor Eve Kennedy-Spaien on her last day at the Functional Restoration Program for Pain Management at Spaulding Outpatient Center in Medford. She reported her pain had lessened. Craig F. Walker / The Boston Globe

By The Boston Globe

December 30, 2016

1 minute to read

Little things get Karen Hanlon through the day. Things like the “pain pop” — a Popsicle stick placed in a Dixie cup of water, then frozen. Hanlon peels the paper cup off the ice and rubs the pain pop on the skin between her thumb and forefinger. The cold numbs a nerve that extends up her arm and within minutes soothes her aching neck.

Other times, she puts two tennis balls, tied inside a surgical glove, between her back and a wall, and leans into them to massage away a knot.

But in finding those simple tools, Hanlon is a rarity. In the age of opioid addiction — when getting prescribed painkillers has grown more difficult — little has been done to increase access to other treatments for the ceaseless pain that afflicts one-third of Americans.

“The little things add up, believe it or not,” Hanlon said.

She acquired her coping skills at a specialized pain program run by the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, which serves only 400 to 500 people a year. There, she learned gentle forms of tai chi and yoga, meditation to relax her body, exercises to increase her range of motion, and daily routines to manage the pain.