Biofeedback and Behavioral treatment of persistent pain in the older adult: A review and a study

Persistent pain is a common health problem for older adults, age 60 C, with a prevalence twice that in younger adults. Yet, older adults with chronic pain and headache are under-represented in behaviorally oriented clinical programs that have proven effective for younger adults. A review of the literature indicates that older adults develop multiple pain-related problems that are similar to those of younger individuals. When offered the opportunity, older pain patients accept and benefit from multidisciplinary pain programs, cognitive-behavioral therapies and biofeedback training. A study comparing 58 older and 59 younger adults in a multidisciplinary pain program indicates that older pain patients readily acquire the physiological self-regulation skills taught in biofeedback-assisted relaxation training, and achieve comparable decreases in pain for the pain program as a whole.