The Golden Age of Self-Management

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The 2016 National Pain Strategyhas placed self-management firmly in the spotlight as a critical pathway to better treat pain in the U.S.

Cue Dr. Kate Lorig, the Godmother of Self-Management. Dr. Lorig spearheaded the development of self-management education and treatment at Stanford University 3 decades ago, beginning with the Arthritis Self-Management Program. She and colleagues studied participant outcomes for her program and demonstrated some of the best results for any behavioral or educational intervention — doubly impressive due to their incredible durability. Randomized controlled trials show that self-management programs confer improvements in self-efficacy and health status — improvements that are sustained at 4 year follow-up (Lorig KR et al 1993). What’s more, similar results are found for the internet-based adaptations of her programs across various pain conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and fibromyalgia (Lorig KR et al 2008).

What started out as self-management for arthritis has been expanded to HIV, cancer, chronic disease, and diabetes. All of the self-management programs teach participants how to help themselves become more active, manage symptoms, and problem solve effectively. Self-management is all about engaging patients in their own care (click here to learn more about self-management). Her programs are available in every state in the U.S. and in about 30 countries worldwide. They are offered widely in the US in Spanish and English and around the world in 20 different languages. In short, thirty years ago Dr. Lorig began a self-management movement that has literally changed the world.