Which is the recommended primary strategy for a patient with persistent pain?

Prepare for the Tissue Injury, Healing, and Pain Test. Utilize flashcards and multiple-choice questions with hints and explanations. Ensure you're ready for the exam!

The main idea being tested is that educating the patient to actively manage persistent pain is the most effective first approach. When someone has chronic pain, understanding how pain works and realizing that ongoing discomfort doesn’t always mean ongoing tissue damage helps reduce fear and avoidance. This knowledge supports staying active, pacing activities, and sticking with evidence-based therapies like graded exercise, physical therapy, and coping strategies. Education empowers the patient to set realistic goals, self-monitor symptoms, and engage in a self-management plan, which often leads to better function and less disability than passive treatments.

Bed rest is generally counterproductive for persistent pain because it promotes deconditioning and fear of movement, which can worsen pain and function over time. High-dose opioids carry significant risks, including dependence and adverse effects, and they are not shown to provide long-term benefit for chronic pain. Surgery is not a primary strategy for persistent pain unless there is a clear, surgically correctable source of pain, and even then it’s typically not pursued without considering multidisciplinary management first.