Types of Pain Management Assessment

Anasthesiol Intensivmed Notfallmed Schmerzther. 2026 Jun;61(9):509-519. doi: 10.1055/a-2754-4441. Epub 2026 Sep 2.

ABSTRACT

Pain assessments are essential for the diagnosis and treatment planning of pain disorders. Guided by the biopsychosocial model, they evaluate physical, psychological, and social factors that contribute to pain chronification. Unimodal assessments, typically performed by pain specialists, are often the first step in specialized pain care. If risk factors for chronification or established chronic pain are identified, an interdisciplinary multimodal assessment (IMA) involving physicians, psychologists, and physiotherapists is recommended. The IMA combines medical, functional, and psychological evaluation with an interdisciplinary case conference to develop an individualized treatment plan. Depending on the findings, recommendations may include outpatient, day-clinic, inpatient, rehabilitative, psychosomatic, or psychiatric treatment. More recently, ambulatory interdisciplinary multimodal assessments (A-IMA) have been introduced for patients in the early stages of pain chronification. Early identification of risk factors and timely interdisciplinary intervention may help prevent the progression of chronic pain.

PMID:42685705 | DOI:10.1055/a-2754-4441