AMA’s Story: Putting the “Multi” in Multimodal Care for Patients with Pain

An example of integrative pain care from American Medical Association

AACIPM thanks one of our many collaborators, International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT), who introduced us to Inner Atlas, a unique method of facilitating whole person, multimodal pain care led by Whitney James, MD, MHS, Kori Moore-Gibson, C-IAYT and Malisa Szalkiewicz, M.ED, C-IAYT.

As a connector of dots to promote whole person-centered pain care, AACIPM has collaborated with the AMA to share this example across many stakeholders.

While many people talk about the mind-body connection as part of optimal care for patients with pain, Arizona physician Whitney James, MD, has gone a step further, developing her own program to make that the guiding principle in how she treats patients.

In her own words, Dr. James discusses her practice philosophy and how she built a strong team to help her put her vision into practice:

“It’s been my experience that patients with chronic pain are best treated with a multimodal treatment plan. This may include a combination of physical therapy, talk therapy, medications and even surgery. No two patients are alike, so each patient’s treatment plan must be individualized to her or his unique physiology and experience. What doesn’t tend to work well with chronic pain patients is a single angle approach. Practitioners really need to be able to create multifaceted treatment plans in order to be effective in improving patient outcomes and quality of life.” 

Read the story on AMA’s microsite, titled Putting the ‘Multi’ in Multimodal Care for Patients with Pain.

Reach out to AACIPM if you want to share unique models of caring for people with pain.