Proactive pain care: preventing pain through education

Three in five U.S. adults are in physical pain of some kind. More than 20% of U.S. adults suffer from chronic pain, and more than 7% experience high-impact chronic pain—or pain that severely limits daily activities and the ability to work. Mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety, are also more prevalent among individuals with chronic pain.

In other words, pain is all too common—and pain hurts. Whether acute or chronic, it can be all-consuming. The impact of pain goes far and wide, affecting not just individuals, but also families, businesses, and communities.

In today’s world of medicine, the conversation around pain is usually about managing it. There’s a whole industry and medical speciality around helping people deal with their pain. But it is strange that we don’t talk more about preventing pain before it occurs and eliminating it (as opposed to just dealing with it) after it starts.

Too often, we talk about pain as if it were an unavoidable part of life that must be endured. The reality is that many types of pain can be prevented and permanently eliminated via proactive pain care.

What is pain?

Pain is a feeling, a sensation, a message from our brain that something is not right. Aching, burning, throbbing—these are all words used to describe how pain feels and how our body interprets the messages from our brain.

Acute vs chronic pain

Pain can be acute or chronic:

• Acute pain comes on suddenly to warn the body of an imminent threat—for instance, the sharp pain of breaking a bone or spraining an ankle. Acute pain usually resolves when the underlying cause, or threat, is no longer present.
• Chronic pain is pain that lasts longer than three months. Often the result of illnesses such as arthritis or cancer, chronic pain can occur in any part of the body and last for months or years, severely impacting quality of life for those who suffer from it.

In some cases, acute pain can evolve into chronic pain, especially if the cause of the acute pain is overlooked or not treated in a timely and appropriate manner.

Some pain is work- or lifestyle-related. For instance, sitting at a desk for prolonged periods and not exercising can cause pain, as can jobs that involve heavy, physical labor. Imagine you have an employee who injures their back while lifting a heavy box on the job. Following the injury, their doctor recommends avoiding strenuous activity or lifting heavy objects. To help with recovery, the employee is reassigned to desk duty. But even with less physically demanding responsibilities, their pain does not improve, and they remain working at a desk for most of the year. They notice their back is not getting better—it is actually bothering them even more than before.

While it was necessary for this employee to avoid heavy lifting for a period of time post-injury, adopting a sedentary lifestyle for their new work assignment was likely detrimental to their healing. It is important to stay active with appropriate rehabilitative exercise while healing from an injury, as movement improves circulation and reduces inflammation. In this case, the employee’s pain has gone from acute to chronic, and both their quality of life and their productivity at work are sure to suffer.

What is pain management?

Pain management is the use of pain-relieving techniques and therapies to improve quality of life for chronic pain sufferers. Technically, all of the following fall under the umbrella of pain management:

• Medications
• Injections
• Acupuncture and massage
• Physical therapy
• Exercise and lifestyle changes
• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

Chronic pain is one of the most common reasons adults seek medical care. But due to the siloed nature of the U.S. healthcare system, it can be difficult for a sole provider to put together a multidisciplinary pain management plan that both alleviates pain in the short term and tackles the underlying cause of pain over the long term.

Medications and injections manage pain while PT seeks to cure

The result is that, all too often, pain management relies heavily on the first two interventions listed above to give patients quick relief from their pain. In other words, it simply “manages” their pain with quick fixes, as opposed to using longer-term strategies like physical therapy and CBT to attack its root cause.

This has led to the overprescription of highly addictive medications such as opioids. Opioids are drugs that block pain signals between the brain and the body. Often, they are prescribed by a physician after surgery. The most commonly prescribed opioids include:

• Hydrocodone
• Oxycodone
• Oxymorphone
• Morphine
• Codeine

Between 2019 and 2020, opioid-related death rates increased by 38%, and prescription opioid-involved death rates increased by 17%. Overprescribing and misuse of opioids has led to the opioid overdose epidemic. In 2017, opioid use disorder and deaths caused by opioid overdoses cost the U.S. over $1 trillion.

What is proactive pain care?

Proactive pain care refers to the aspects of pain management that can reduce existing pain, while simultaneously preventing further pain by attacking its root cause.

This type of care is different to medications and injections which are reactive and prescribed as a reaction to pain symptoms.

Proactive pain care can and should be practiced even when no pain symptoms are present. And if used to mitigate a pain flareup, they should be continued after the pain episode resolves.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can help to prevent pain

Take CBT, for instance. This psychological intervention helps chronic pain patients become aware of negative thinking that impacts their mental health and pain levels.

People who are able to apply CBT techniques and take control of negative thoughts often see improvements in both their pain levels and the impact depression has on their daily lives. The efficacy of CBT for chronic pain conditions has been confirmed in medical literature, and its importance is acknowledged by the CDC.

But even when no pain symptoms are present, CBT is a powerful way to stave off future pain because depression can cause pain, just as pain can cause depression.

Proactively practicing CBT to get and stay mentally healthy reduces the likelihood of developing depression, and therefore pain, down the line. This is in stark contrast to pharmacologic pain management like opioids, which would never be advisable in the absence of pain symptoms and certainly would not reduce the likelihood of developing chronic pain in the future.

Pain education as proactive pain care

One aspect of proactive pain care that is often overlooked is pain education. Education regarding pain and its impacts can empower people to self-manage their pain. It can also give people who don’t have pain symptoms the information they need to stay pain-free. Pain education is most effective at reducing and preventing pain when combined with other proactive strategies like physical therapy and CBT, but is undoubtedly an important part of the equation.

Let’s return to the example of the employee who was reassigned to desk duty after injuring their back on the job. Having been accustomed to a job that involved physical labor, it is likely that they know very little about the realities of a desk job and the toll it can take on the body. Therefore, it is important that they learn things like how to:

• Set up an ergonomic workstation
• Prevent tension and tightness from building up throughout the workday
• Properly stretch to prevent pain

Had they been armed with this information, they would have been far better equipped to handle their new work assignment.

Perhaps they would have known how important it is to have a 90-degree angle in the hips, knees, and elbows while seated at a desk.

Perhaps they would have known about breaking up the workday with consistent movements that disrupt the posture they spend most of their day in (extending the knees periodically throughout the day to balance out their bent position while seated would really help).

Simple but crucial adjustments like these could have prevented the employee’s acute pain from developing into chronic pain over the course of the year.

Likewise, this information could prevent an employee with no pain from ever developing pain in the first place. Academy, Sword’s hub for premium educational content, provides members with the information and resources they need to prevent injury, understand pain, and build healthy habits.

In order to reduce their risks and learn their way to a healthier, pain-free life, members can access our library of clinically validated video content on-demand in the Sword app. We keep our videos short and actionable, making pain education as easy and accessible as possible. And with 10 new episodes uploaded to the Academy every month, there is always something new to learn.

Why Sword is the smarter way to end pain

At Sword Health, we don’t just manage pain. We help people leave it behind.

Our comprehensive digital physical therapy solution is clinically validated to reduce pain, improve mobility, and prevent future injuries, all from the comfort of home. By combining licensed Doctors of Physical Therapy, personalized treatment plans, and smart AI technology that generates real-time feedback, members recover faster from the comfort of their own home.

How Sword works to speed recovery and end pain

• Each member is matched with a Doctor of Physical Therapy who creates a personalized treatment plan for the individual's healthcare goals
• The patient uses Sword’s FDA-listed computer vision or motion tracking device, which provides real-time AI-generated feedback on form, movement, and range of motion
• The clinical specialists prepare and oversee every plan, tailoring the program based on the patient's performance
• Real-time AI-generated feedback gives the expert clinicians the input they need to update plans as the patient progresses
• This added flexibility, accessibility, and accountability is what increases engagement and adherence rates

Traditional physical therapy often requires weeks of in-person appointments. Research demonstrates that up to 50% of patients drop out after just 4 sessions of in-person, in-clinic PT treatment. Sword delivers a higher standard of care with far greater adherence. In fact, 81% of members complete their full program, thanks to easy access, engaging tech, and proven results.

And the results from Sword's book of business speak for themselves:

• 67% of members finish pain-free, even when starting with moderate to severe pain
• 47% stop taking painkillers, a critical step in reversing opioid overuse
• Up to 70% reduction in intent to pursue surgery, showing the power of early, proactive care
• Employers see a 68% increase in member productivity and measurable reduction in MSK-related costs

Sword ends pinpoints risk and proactively prevents future cost

Our Move and Predict solutions proactively address movement and lifestyle risks before they become expensive conditions. And our on-demand education Academy and expert-led support ensure members stay engaged and informed at every step.

For benefits leaders, health plans, and consultants, Sword offers what the status quo cannot: clinically proven outcomes, scalable reach, and stronger ROI. All while delivering a more human, accessible member experience.

It is time to move from pain management to pain resolution.

Choose Sword, and give your people the care that works.