Complementary and alternative therapy (CAM) in haemophilia pain management: a review of published literature

Pain continues to be a significant issue for people with haemophilia (PWH), whether it is acute pain from a joint bleed, a needle stick when receiving clotting factor treatment, or chronic pain from chronic synovitis and arthritic changes. In the US, there has been controversy and uncertainty regarding the use of oral medications and opioids for the management of chronic pain, including haemophilia pain. Both PWH and their clinicians have started to explore nonpharmacologic options for managing pain, with many PWH trying to limit their use of oral pain medication and using alternative methods. There is little research around the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for pain management in the haemophilia community. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive literature review of current English language research on the use of therapies that fall into four distinctive domains of CAM in PWH. English language articles were obtained via searches in Medline, Embase and CINAHL using the target search words “haemophilia” or “bleeding disorders” in combination with other search terms relating to CAM. All references were considered regardless of year. Twenty-three CAM articles that included PWH or other bleeding disorders were identified; ten were evidence based while the remainder provided case reports and descriptions of CAM use in PWH. This indicates that there is limited current research in the area of CAM use for pain management in PWH. Evidence of the benefit of CAM is seen in studies of its use to treat pain in other conditions and health-related circumstances. Additional evidenced-based CAM research is needed so that alternative pain management therapies can be utilised in a safe and beneficial manner in PWH.