1150 - Pain medications are perceived as helpful in chronic traumatic spinal cord injury compared to non-pharmacologic options

Friday, February 20, 2026

5:00 PM - 6:30 PM AST

Presenting Author(s)

ZR

Zainab Raza, BS

Medical Student
Sam Houston State College of Osteopathic Medicine
Sugar Land, Texas, United States
LH

Lauren Haney, MD

Resident Physician
UT Health Houston
Houston, Texas, United States

Co-Author(s)

EA

Emilia Alvarez, MD

Resident Physician
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas, United States
EF

Elizabeth R. Felix, PhD

Professor
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Miami, Florida, United States
AS

Argyrios Stampas, MD

Professor, SCIM Research Director
UT Health Houston
Houston, Texas, United States

Submitter(s)

LH

Lauren Haney, MD

UT Health Houston
Houston, Texas, United States

Objectives: To identify perceived helpfulness of pain treatments tried at long-term follow up after traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI) across various etiologies. The hypothesis was there would be differences between injury etiologies, as different level, completeness, and mechanism may cause different quality and character of pain.

Design: Cross-sectional data was analyzed from six Spinal Cord Injury Model System Centers. Participants with tSCI for 30-plus years completed a telephone survey about pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments they have tried within the last year for pain, stratified by etiology of injury. The number of treatments tried and percentage of individuals per etiology who reported perceived helpfulness (yes/no) for each treatment category was calculated.

Results: There were 126 respondents with injury duration 30-plus years: 56 vehicular, 23 gunshot wound (GSW), 20 sports and 16 falls. Perceived helpfulness of pharmacologic treatments was greatest for sports at 90%, compared to 84% falls, 76% vehicular, and 74% GSW. With non-pharmacologic treatments, vehicular reported highest perceived helpfulness at 72% compared to 69% falls, 66% sports, and 55% GSW. For vehicular injuries, respondents tried 2.1 pharmacologic treatments per person compared to 2.3 for non-pharmacologic; for GSW, 1.5 compared to 2; for falls, 1.2 compared to 2.3, sports 2 compared to 1.7).

Conclusions:

In this cohort, across etiologies, pharmacologic pain treatments are perceived as more helpful compared to non-pharmacologic treatments 30-plus years after tSCI. Sports injuries had highest perceived helpfulness with pharmacologic treatments compared to other etiologies. For all etiologies except sports, respondents tried fewer pharmacologic treatments per person than non-pharmacologic, possibly due to higher perceived helpfulness meaning the pharmacologic treatments they tried worked. GSW reported lowest perceived helpfulness for all treatments compared to other etiologies, possibly due to retained bullet fragments, severe neuropathic pain, or psychosocial factors.