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Return To Work As A Treatment Objective For Patients With Chronic Pain?

Sullivan MJL and Hyman MH

Evidence-based clinical guidelines emphasize early return- to-work as a critical treatment objective in the management of recent onset pain conditions. However, something changes when a pain condition becomes chronic. For chronic pain conditions, return-to-work is rarely put forward as a primary treatment objective. Consequently, successful return to work is rarely an outcome in the treatment of chronic pain conditions. This editorial makes the case for placing return-to-work as a central objective of the treatment of chronic pain, regardless of the duration of chronicity.