Creating an innovative solution to help patients prevent and manage chronic pain is crucial in trying to lead a functioning life. Health applications provide a platform for patients and their healthcare provider to communicate and document their symptoms and treatment plan. These health applications help patients self-manage their conditions with less frequent in person appointments and are now with you on the go. Applications like My Pain Sensei work with Certified Pain Coaches to develop a personalized online pain program that helps you in your fight against chronic pain, in the comfort of your own home.
What is Chronic Pain?
When we experience normal pain, such as a scrape, our nervous system reacts to help prevent possible injury. When injury occurs, pain signals are sent from the injury site up our spinal cord and to the brain. As the injury heals, pain becomes less severe.
Chronic pain however, is different from typical pain. With chronic pain, pain signals are continuously sent to the brain even after the injury has healed. Chronic pain can last several weeks to several years and can affect your mobility, strength, and endurance which can make it difficult to complete daily tasks and activities.
The most common forms of chronic pain include:
- Back pain
- Headaches
- Joint pain
- Nerve pain
Why are Healthcare Applications used for Managing Pain?
Healthcare applications can help patients better understand the causes of their pain, which can help them better cope with their conditions, and provide the healthcare provider with the data they need to recommend or alter treatment. The application can help enhance the patient experience by allowing them to track their symptoms and maintain individualized treatment plans.
In recent years, genomic data has emerged as an innovative area of research that could have the potential to transform the healthcare industry. With this information, precision medicine could be accelerated providing individualized therapies to each patient.
By using genomic data, healthcare providers can identify patients who are at high risk of developing certain chronic conditions and can create better treatment plans. An exciting benefit that genomics and precision medicine provides is the therapies that will be tailored to meet each patient’s specific needs. Healthcare professionals have the ability to access the patient’s genetic code and can better determine what treatment is right for them.
My Next Health creates health applications that provide valuable insights into the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases by using a novel approach to functional genomics. Through these applications, consumers can self-manage the insights based on their own genetic predispositions.
My Next Health’s “My Pain Sensei” platform, which combines big data and genomic insights with conversational AI and tracking tools, was developed by MPS through an engagement with IBM and includes access to more than 60 million electronic medical records and data from 32 billion claims.
This data allows the platform to uncover key insights about identifiable symptoms, diagnoses, chronic pain treatment efficacy as well as for other chronic conditions. The My Next Health applications make those insights, tools and interventions accessible to patients and their healthcare providers.
