Pain patients Better care possible

Pain patients: Cost savings and better care possible: The number of pain patients seems to be steadily rising in Germany. Nevertheless, there has not yet been sufficient information on the supply situation and costs. Now there is a report that detects deficiencies and shows new ways.

On Tuesday, February 16, 2010 in Berlin, the health insurance DAK and the Grünenthal GmbH presented a report on the care situation and the costs of pain patients under the title "Supply Atlas Pain: New Findings on the Treatment Situation of Back Pain Patients". According to the supply atlas, patients with back pain represent about 20 to 30 percent of the "average direct total costs" in Germany. Low back pain is particularly widespread in connection with disc disease. The largest part of the costs are here on remedies and aids, such as physiotherapy and massages. Although pain patients have received painkillers in the past, individual physical and psychological diagnosis and care still leaves much to be desired.

The experts in the team, such as Prof. Dr. med. Gerd Glaeske from the Center for Social Policy of the University of Bremen, point out that there is also a cost factor slumbering here: the sooner and better the patients would be cared for individually and interdisciplinary, the less chronic courses would result. The resulting costs through treatments, disability, etc ... could be reduced in the future.

In view of these facts, representatives of individual treatment concepts of chronic and acute pain, such as the so-called "fascial distorsion model" FDM, still ask why these cost-effective procedures are no longer included in interdisciplinary work.

"Especially in the care of pain patients, the FaszienDistorionModell offers a new effective approach," says Christoph Rossmy, President of the European FDM Organization (EFDMA), Heilpraxisnet. According to Rossmy, the first scientific studies are now available.

It is to be hoped that the right conclusions will be drawn from the DAK and Grünenthal GmbH study, especially with regard to chronification, costs and individual care, and that methods such as the fascial distraction model (FDM) will be integrated into the care of pain patients in the future. (Thorsten Fischer, Naturopath Osteopathy, 19.02.2010)