The effect of a pain management program in reducing the pain in patients with multiple sclerosis

Pain is common symptom in multiple sclerosis (MS) which is experienced by the sufferers in all stages of the disease. Therefore, multidimensional and comprehensive treatments are necessary in order to reduce the pain; via programs including of pain management. The aim of this study was to investigate effect of the pain management programs in reducing the pain symptoms in patients with MS. 10 MS patients were chosen using convenience sampling method from those registered in MS clinic of Ghaem hospital in Mashhad. Then, they were divided randomly into the experimental and control groups. The experimental group participated in 12 sessions of 45 minutes per session to receive the pain management education programs. Data were gathered using a numerical rating scale of pain, symptom checklist-90- Revised (SCL-90-R) and physical symptoms subscale of the general health questionnaire. The results showed that pain mean score of patients reduce significantly after receiving the education. The effect of intervention was 0.79 for numerical rating scale, 0.67 for the somatization subscale of SCL-90-R, and 0.52 for physical symptoms subscale of general health questionnaire. That is, the intervention reduced pain meaningfully in all measured parameters. Based on the obtained results, the pain management education can decrease the amount of pain in MS patients. It is recommended to consider this treatment as a part of this group's main treatment and rehabilitation programs.