Medical experts call for closer cooperation in chronic pain treatment

During a specialist conference in Berlin, experts from the Arbeitsgemeinschaft nicht operativer orthopädischer manualmedizinischer Akut-Kliniken (ANOA) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie (DGOU) advocated for stronger integration between orthopedics, trauma surgery, and psychotherapy.

The discussion focused on addressing the intersection of physical and psychological factors in chronic pain. Experts highlighted the importance of identifying “Yellow Flags”—psychosocial risk factors such as occupational stress, depression, catastrophizing, and avoidance behavior—which can lead to the chronification of pain.

Under existing clinical pathways, such as Multimodal Pain Therapy (OPS 8-918), the involvement of psychiatric or psychosomatic specialists is already a regulatory requirement. To improve patient outcomes, participants called for structural changes in medical education, suggesting that psychosomatic content be firmly anchored in the training curricula for orthopedic and trauma surgeons.