Understanding Pain in Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury: Implications for Recreational Therapy Practice

For individuals with spinal cord injury, pain is the leading secondary health condition. SCI-related pain is complicated because it is multifaceted in nature. Individuals with SCI-related pain may experience visceral, neuropathic, and musculoskeletal pain at different locations and with varying intensities at the same time or intermittently. In recent years, SCI scholars created a taxonomy to classify SCI-related pain. This classification was to communicate the complexity of SCI-related pain, as well as to help clinicians and individuals with SCI explain pain experiences. Because of the multifaceted nature of SCI-related pain, many individuals with SCI do not experience relief with conventional oral pharmacological options. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe pain and SCI-related pain and to provide implications for recreational therapy practice. Implications include the identification of potential reliable and valid pain measures for individuals with SCI and evidence-based interventions such as physical activity, complementary and alternative therapies, and multidisciplinary pain management techniques to manage SCI-related pain. Recommendations for research and practice note continuing needs to gather evidence on treatment time and recreational therapy interventions employed with SCI-related pain while developing and testing pain management protocols.