Interdisciplinary programs refer to pain management programs that integrate care from disciplines including medicine, psychology, nursing, physical therapy, chiropractic, and occupational therapy, among others. These types of programs are often oriented around a biopsychosocial treatment philosophy and emphasize different types of care, education, shared medical decision-making, and practice of pain self-management skills (active steps individuals with pain take to manage their pain and its effect on their lives, which can include psychological and behavioral strategies).

Interdisciplinary programs can also include “multidisciplinary” programs that emphasize coordination among clinicians of multiple disciplines to provide multimodal care, such as primary care physicians, psychologists, and physical therapists. While individual clinicians (including primary care providers) have the capacity to help provide and/or coordinate multimodal care, interdisciplinary programs include clinicians who have specific expertise in pain management.

Interdisciplinary programs often share objectives of developing individualized, personally tailored treatment packages based on patient goals, past experience, and treatment preferences. Treatment goals typically include acquiring pain self-management skills, increasing physical activity, and returning to work. One review found that a majority of programs offered exercise, education, relaxation training, and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) as components of their programs, while other components offered could include team meetings with the individual with chronic pain, graded activities, pharmacologic treatments, and body awareness.

A common goal of interdisciplinary programs is implementing changes to pain medications, including reducing opioids. Studies have demonstrated that guided opioid tapering to reduce patient usage in interdisciplinary programs is feasible and is associated with improvements, or at worst, no changes in pain and functioning.