Complementary Therapies as Adjuvant Technics to Control of Oncological Pain

• Autor(a) principal: Fonseca, Joyce Fernanda Duque
• Data de Publicação: 2009
• Outros Autores: Britto, Márcia do Nascimento
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Saúde e Pesquisa (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.unicesumar.edu.br/index.php/saudpesq/article/view/1151
• topic: Dor; Neoplasias; Terapia complementar; Analgesia; Qualidade de vida.

ABSTRACT: Pain is a symptom often found in cancer, and it is considered the main patients demand factor for medical care. Patients suffering from malignant pain experience diverse physical, mental, social and spiritual discomfort. In this way, the pain relief is a patient right, that must be attended by health professionals, and it is very important to implement alternative therapies less aggressive, non-invasive, cost- affordable, easy handling and with few contraindications. In this context, the aim of this study was to perform a literature review in order to better understand the process of cancer pain and, above all, to show some non-invasive techniques that could be used to control this type of pain. Among them, there are the transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), the application of heat and cold (thermotherapy and cryotherapy), the therapeutic massage, the aromatherapy, and musictherapy. These complementary measures are based, mainly, in search of global rebalancing, not only symptomatic treatment and thus provide the patient a sense of situation control, encouraging his participation and responsibility on their own treatment. However, the absence of scientific reasons related to non-pharmacological interventions, and even the ignorance of such measures existence, difficult its implementation as a tool for control of cancer pain. Thus, it is necessary to do more controlled clinical studies on the effectiveness of complementary therapies in controlling cancer pain, in order to establish reliable use criteria.