Opioid use for moderate to severe pain

In the United States, many visits to physician offices are for complaints of pain. Patients who have moderate to severe pain can be effectively treated with different modalities, including the use of opioids. Effective management requires that the physicians be open minded and thorough. Physicians should take a complete history and do a complete physical examination, including an osteopathic structural examination, to help develop a comprehensive treatment plan. This plan should include follow-up visits for continued assessment of the treatment plan. A continued reassessment of the treatment plan and the patient's response to the treatment has been shown to be most beneficial to the patient and the physician. Osteopathic physicians using the osteopathic medical model of treatment should identify psychosocial as well as somatic dysfunctions and appropriately treat patients for them. They should not avoid the use of opioids because of fear of patients' becoming addicted, but rather they should integrate the use of opioids in a multidisciplinary treatment plan. Opioids are potent drugs that require monitoring and dosing according to patient response.