Topic summary
Pain relief
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Pain management.
Medications
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a pain ladder for managing pain relief with pharmaceuticals. It was first described for use in cancer pain, but can be used by medical professionals as a general principle when managing any type of pain. In the treatment of chronic pain, the three-step WHO Analgesic Ladder provides guidelines for selecting the appropriate medicine. The exact medications recommended will vary by country and individual treatment centers, but the following provides an example of the WHO approach to treating chronic pain with medications. If at any point treatment fails to provide adequate pain relief, the doctor and patient proceed to the next step.