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Dr. Henri Roca & a Whole-Person Approach to Chronic Pain
Read time 3 minutes
Chronic pain affects people worldwide, impacting work and life activities.1 In the US, an estimated 20.9% (~51.6 million people) experience chronic pain,2 and the complex medical needs of these patients may not be wholly met by a prescription pain reliever. Chronic pain has been increasingly recognized as a biopsychosocial condition, and many clinicians find that a personalized multimodal interdisciplinary treatment approach is preferred over medication only.1,3,4 The subjective experience of chronic pain is believed to result from interactions between multiple contributors, including nociceptive, sociocultural, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive.1,3,4
While there is support for the application of biopsychosocial perspectives in the treatment of chronic pain cases, such perspectives may be overlooked due to either inadequate training, attitudes favoring a biomedical approach, or a lack of time to spend with each patient.3,5 Yet a thorough pain evaluation has been highlighted as a key component of chronic pain management and includes components such as a detailed patient history, assessment of red flags, careful physical examination, addressing psychosocial factors, and building a therapeutic alliance with the patient.3,4
In the extended video below, functional medicine clinician Henri Roca, MD, discusses his approach to chronic pain and explores those tools that help empower patients in their healing journey.
Functional medicine clinician Henri Roca, MD, understands that health behaviors are born within family, community, and social systems. He tells his patients that everything that has ever happened to them brings them to the health they have today and that each choice they make today creates the foundation upon which they can build the health they desire.
“So I have to see the whole person. I have to get to the root cause. I have to honor their life story, and I have to use everything that works to help bring the person to their best place of health.”
Dr. Roca is skilled at interpreting interconnecting webs of cause and effect to get to underlying root causes of chronic pain, and his unique way of connecting with patients has helped him form myriad effective therapeutic relationships. “I practice integrative functional medicine. That’s the only way I can do medicine,” says Dr. Roca.
In addition to his current position as medical director at OneMedicine Wellness Services in Arkansas, he is a primary care physician who offers an individualized approach to health and disease for his patients, recognizing the interaction and importance of every aspect of a person’s life—mind, body, and spirit.
Learn more about the functional medicine approach to chronic pain, those lifestyle-based approaches that have shown benefit,6-10 and personalizing therapeutic treatments through IFM’s Applying Functional Medicine in Clinical Practice (AFMCP)TM course.
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References
- Cohen SP, Vase L, Hooten WM. Chronic pain: an update on burden, best practices, and new advances. Lancet. 2021;397(10289):2082-2097. doi:1016/S0140-6736(21)00393-7
- Rikard SM, Strahan AE, Schmit KM, Guy GP Jr. Chronic pain among adults – United States, 2019-2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2023;72(15):379-385. doi:15585/mmwr.mm7215a1
- van Dijk H, Köke AJA, Elbers S, Mollema J, Smeets RJEM, Wittink H. Physiotherapists using the biopsychosocial model for chronic pain: barriers and facilitators—a scoping review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023;20(2):1634. doi:3390/ijerph20021634
- Guven Kose S, Kose HC, Celikel F, et al. Chronic pain: an update of clinical practices and advances in chronic pain management. Eurasian J Med. 2022;54(Suppl1):57-61. doi:5152/eurasianjmed.2022.22307
- Dwyer CP, McKenna-Plumley PE, Durand H, et al. Factors influencing the application of a biopsychosocial perspective in clinical judgement of chronic pain: interactive management with medical students. Pain Physician. 2017;20(6):E951-E960.
- Li Y, Yan L, Hou L, et al. Exercise intervention for patients with chronic low back pain: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Front Public Health. 2023;11:1155225. doi:3389/fpubh.2023.1155225
- Rasmussen-Barr E, Halvorsen M, Bohman T, et al. Summarizing the effects of different exercise types in chronic neck pain – a systematic review and meta-analysis of systematic reviews. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2023;24(1):806. doi:1186/s12891-023-06930-9
- Cuevas-Cervera M, Perez-Montilla JJ, Gonzalez-Muñoz A, Garcia-Rios MC, Navarro-Ledesma S. The effectiveness of intermittent fasting, time restricted feeding, caloric restriction, a ketogenic diet and the Mediterranean diet as part of the treatment plan to improve health and chronic musculoskeletal pain: a systematic review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022;19(11):6698. doi:3390/ijerph19116698
- Cirillo M, Argento FR, Becatti M, Fiorillo C, Coccia ME, Fatini C. Mediterranean diet and oxidative stress: a relationship with pain perception in endometriosis. Int J Mol Sci. 2023;24(19):14601. doi:3390/ijms241914601
- Casini I, Ladisa V, Clemente L, et al. A personalized Mediterranean diet improves pain and quality of life in patients with fibromyalgia. Pain Ther. 2024;13(3):609-620. doi:1007/s40122-024-00598-2
