Opioid Use Disorder and Pain Management

Pain management for patients with OUD.

Key points

  • Identification of an opioid use disorder (OUD) can alter the expected benefits and risks of opioid therapy for pain.
  • Patients with co-occurring pain and OUD require ongoing pain management that maximizes benefits relative to risks.
  • Clinicians should use nonpharmacologic and nonopioid pharmacologic pain treatments as appropriate to provide pain management.
  • For patients with pain who have an active OUD but are not in treatment, buprenorphine or methadone treatment for OUD can also help with concurrent pain management.
Clinician and patient talking about pain

Considerations

Consider the following to improve pain management for patients receiving medications for OUD:

  • Use nonpharmacologic and nonopioid pharmacologic pain treatments as appropriate (see Recommendations 1 and 2 in the 2022 Clinical Practice Guideline) to provide optimal pain management.
  • For patients with pain who have an active OUD but are not in treatment, buprenorphine or methadone treatment for OUD can also help with concurrent pain management.

See Recommendation 12 for more information on managing pain for patients with OUD.

Resources

There are a variety of resources that can assist with diagnosis and treatment of OUD:

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Content Source:
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control