First AMA-IEEE EMBS Medical Technology Conference on Individualized Health Care

Over 50 Million U.S. citizens alone suffer from some form of chronic pain, which doesn’t include those suffering from temporary injuries or strains.  According to the American Chronic Pain Association, “Pain is the most common reason Americans access the health care system… providing adequate pain management is a crucial component of improving and maintaining quality of life for patients.”

Pain management is a $19 Billion global industry of which $1.5B is spent on non-pharmaceutical pain therapy. The industry is currently dominated by drugs that often cause unfortunate side effects or aren’t used by patients for a variety of reasons.  In a 2007 survey by the National Pain Society of 1,484 adults, 72% of respondents admitted to having suffered some form of pain within the last twelve months but were reluctant to use drugs for pain relief.  More than 90% agreed that “people take too many pills these days.”   Medicinal therapies are not adequately meeting market needs and the majority of chronic pain sufferers have turned to pharmaceuticals that currently dominate the treatment options due to widespread insurance coverage and convenience.  However, there are a myriad of public health problems associated with analgesic use including addiction, medical side effects, and illegal drug use.

The purpose of this session is to showcase novel technologies and techniques that provide pain relief from the clinic to the home and reduce health disparities between populations that may not have access to traditional pain-management clinics. Approaches include: wearable devices, telemedicine, massage therapy, homeopathic techniques and other non-pharmaceutical based approaches.