Multimodal Pain Management: A Tech-Driven Approach for Older Adults

As the population ages and lifespan increases, effective pain management becomes crucial in addressing the biological, psychological and sociological aspects of pain. Despite rapid technological advancements, a pressing need remains for multimodal strategies that complement pharmacologic treatments by targeting the full biopsychosocial spectrum of pain.

New research suggests a multimodal strategy could be beneficial to improve pain conditions and alleviate the social isolation that often plagues geriatric patients with chronic pain conditions.

“Pain symptoms are influenced by an individual’s biology, psychological/emotional, and social factors, thus it is biopsychosocial,” the authors wrote. “As individuals grow older, each of these biopsychosocial aspects change and can impact a person’s pain manifestation, experience, and management.”

In the study, 50 adult patients aged 60 years and older were randomly assigned to either the conversational voice assistant-standard or the conversational voice assistant-enhanced (CVA-E) group. Each participant interacted with routines twice daily and as needed, over a 12-week period from home and self-reported pain and pain-related outcomes. The investigators collected the data at baseline and post-intervention. 

The results show 12 weeks of interactive voice assistant routines resulted in decreased scores in pain interference, loneliness and depression. Both interventional groups saw a significant decrease in self-reported depression, and the CVA-E group saw a statistically significant decrease in self-reported loneliness.

“The experience of pain can be detrimental to older adults, especially when they live alone or are socially isolated,” the authors wrote. “The preliminary findings from this study suggest that prescribed routines delivered with an AI [artificial intelligence] voice assistant may encourage older adults’ engagement with nonpharmacologic biopsychosocial strategies, and influence pain interference in older adults.”

The study highlights the growing need to continue to explore how personalized and biopsychosocial tailored routines that utilize technology could have a positive impact on pain and other pain-related outcomes, particularly among older adults. 

—Kenny Walter