About AMEDD - AMEDD Innovations Since Desert Storm

The 2009 Army Pain Management Task Force spearheaded a comprehensive evaluation of pain management across the Department of Defense, Veterans Administration, and civilian medicine.  The Army’s Comprehensive Pain Management Campaign Plan implemented the Task Force’s 109 recommendations to provide holistic and interdisciplinary pain care that increase the number of treatment modalities and technologies and focus on providing optimal quality of life for Soldiers and Families with acute and chronic pain.  Army Medicine’s pain management strategy serves as the foundation for the Department of Defense pain management strategy.

• Pain is the most frequent reason patients seek physician care in the United States.  More than 50 million Americans suffer from chronic pain.



• The annual cost of chronic pain in the US is estimated at $100 billion, including healthcare expenses, lost income, and lost productivity.  Back pain alone is the leading cause of disability in Americans under 45 years of age.



• Army Medicine currently standardizes pain management strategies at pain management centers, expansion of non-medication pain management modalities, and development of education products for providers and patients.