Millions of veterans encounter health challenges every day, often as a direct result of their service to our country.
According to the National Institutes of Health, U.S. veterans experience higher rates of chronic pain compared to nonveterans, and 1 in 10 veterans live with severe chronic pain. As we recently honored their brave and selfless service on Veterans Day, we must also commit to making the health, comfort and safety of veterans and their family members a priority for our nation.
It is crucial that employers, health plans and providers consider the veteran population and their unique needs when providing care and support. One of the biggest reasons is due to the complexities and challenges of effective pain management. While pain management is a substantial public health concern, it is an especially serious problem for military service members and veterans, who are twice as likely to die from an opioid overdose than civilian Americans.
In the military service member and veteran population, pain is particularly complex since it frequently coexists with other physical and mental health conditions, substance use disorders, as well as environmental and social risk factors. Additionally, veterans are significantly more likely to report chronic pain compared to nonveterans, so it has become one of the costliest and most complex conditions treated in Veterans Administration settings.
While we still have significant work to do, a lot of progress has been made to study and address pain management with opioid alternatives. “Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming PainPrevention, Care, Education, and Research” from the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, calls for a new, comprehensive approach in the way pain is assessed and managed. This approach recommends patient-centered, evidence-based, and interdisciplinary care that incorporates non-pharmacological approaches to pain management as first-line therapy.
At MOBE, we believe in this approach and have found that our personalized model, which pairs people with clinical pharmacists and health guides focused on nutrition, movement, sleep and emotional health, improves self-management behaviors and outcomes—including chronic pain.
Millions of U.S. military veterans are living and coping with pain, and, as a result, have been heavily impacted by opioid use disorder and its related harms. As we stop to thank and honor the people who have given us so much, let us also commit our time, attention and resources to helping them heal and recover in a safe, holistic way.
Mike Ott is the CEO of MOBE and a U.S. Air Force veteran.