If you are living with chronic pain and are unsure how the COVID-19 pandemic may affect you, here is what you need to know, and what you can do now to find long-term relief. Chronic pain sufferers may be in a high-risk group when it comes to COVID-19.

Every instance of chronic pain is different and can stem from a number of root causes. But, on the whole, patients with chronic pain may be more susceptible to COVID-19. And if they contract Covid, they could have:

• Worsened health issues

• Greater complications from Covid and their chronic pain condition

• Consequences from Covid, Covid medications, and chronic pain medications

This is because many types of chronic pain impact the immune system, and immune system which is needed to help combat viruses like COVID-19. Also, chronic pain sufferers:

• May have underlying health issues.

• Maybe in a higher age bracket.

• May be on medications that impact the respiratory system, like steroids.

Recent studies found chronic pain patients taking opioids, and other pain relievers may have additional health issues if they contract COVID-19, as patients are often at a higher risk of:

• Sedation

• Opioid-induced respiratory depression

• Increased mortality

And the field of chronic pain is one of the hardest hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving many patients over-burdened with their pain and delayed treatment. While telemedicine has been beneficial in maintaining contact with patients and continuing therapy, it did delay and has created lag in proper diagnosis and treatment. Furthermore, diagnostic imaging such as x-rays, CT scans, MRI scans have had to be deferred, which can be beneficial for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Additionally, due to deferment of elective cases, patients who were currently awaiting to undergo extensive surgery — laminectomy, discectomy, hip arthroplasty or total knee arthroplasty — have had their surgeries delayed and their pain is being managed with medications. And interventional pain procedures that needed multiple trials, such as medial branch blocks and spinal cord stimulator trials, have also been postponed.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone around the world including all sectors of the economy, all businesses, healthcare industry, physicians and patients alike. With the deferment in elective procedures, limited access to multimodal therapeutic modalities such as PT, psychologist and psychiatrist appointments and with the added psychosocial emotional stressors from the pandemic, economic and financial insecurities, the potential for worsened chronic pain symptoms are very high. Chronic pain physicians are having to walk a fine line in balancing the on-going pandemic and managing patient pain with limited resources. The key moving forward is to closely follow our patients and get them back on their pre-COVID-19 treatment plans.