DIGITAL HEALTH INTERVENTIONS FOR CHRONIC PAIN SELF-MANAGEMENT: A NARRATIVE REVIEW OF EVIDENCE, IMPLEMENTATION BARRIERS AND SOCIETAL IMPACT
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31435/ijitss.2(50).2026.5665Keywords:
Chronic Pain, Digital Health Interventions, mHealth, Mobile Applications, Telemedicine, Wearable Devices, Virtual Reality, Self-Management, Health Inequity, Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Pain ManagementAbstract
Chronic pain affects an estimated 20–30% of the global adult population and constitutes a major driver of long-term disability and diminished well-being across populations. Despite the recognized need for comprehensive, multimodal pain management, access to specialist care remains limited across many healthcare systems. Digital health interventions (DHIs) — including mobile health applications (mHealth), telemedicine platforms, wearable devices, virtual reality (VR), internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT), and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools — have emerged as scalable and accessible options for supporting chronic pain self-management.
This narrative review synthesizes evidence from 58 studies identified across PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Scopus, CINAHL, and JMIR publications (2013–2023), examining the effectiveness, implementation barriers, and societal implications of DHIs in chronic pain care. Findings indicate that mHealth applications and iCBT demonstrate the most consistent positive effects on pain intensity, quality of life, and functional disability. VR, wearables, and AI-driven tools show promise but require further high-quality investigation. Key barriers to implementation include limited digital health literacy, insufficient integration with electronic health records, fragmented regulatory frameworks, and data privacy concerns. Critically, uncritical DHI adoption risks widening existing health inequalities, as access to digital tools remains unevenly distributed across age, socioeconomic, and geographic groups.
Digital health technologies represent a promising complement to conventional chronic pain management. Realizing their full potential requires coordinated action addressing equity, regulatory standardization, clinical integration, and patient-centered design.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Aleksandra Stepka, Maria Wieczorek, Wojciech Janikowski, Lena Jaworowicz, Weronika Plichtowicz-Kordowska, Agnieszka Jóźwicka, Ewa Bąkowska, Karina Lewandowska
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