Management of Neuropathic Pain in Patients With Spinal Cord Injuries: A Narrative Review

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a major public health problem and a significant cause of disability, associated with serious social and financial consequences.Functional disorders observed after SCI are multiple and multidimensional, including loss of sensation and mobility, spasticity, paralysis, pressure ulcers, respiratory, urinary, and digestive complications, infections, development of cardiovascular disease, as well as chronic pain.The review was based on a literature search in PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases, with keywords such as "neuropathic pain," "management," "treatment," "therapy," "spinal cord degenerative injuries," "spinal cord traumatic injuries," "spinal cord neoplastic injuries," "complications," "quality of life," and "functional status in daily life."Long-term care for these patients is demanding and requires coordinated collaboration among various healthcare professionals and caregivers.In addition, the reduced ability and/or complete inability to work, as a consequence of SCI, imposes an enormous financial burden on both patients' families and society.Neuropathic pain (NP) is a common complication in patients with SCI, significantly affecting their quality of life (QoL) and functional status.Apart from the physical burden, NP is closely linked to emotional distress, including anxiety and depression.The difficulty in relieving NP is attributed either to the complexity of the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms or to differences among SCI patients regarding their responsiveness to treatment.The management of NP after SCI requires a comprehensive and individualized approach.Although multimodal strategies combining pharmaceutical, non-pharmaceutical, and interventional techniques appear to offer the most effective outcomes, a therapeutic approach based on the medical history of each individual patient could also have very good results, highlighting the uniqueness of each patient in the treatment that best suits them.Additional research is needed to effectively treat and relieve these specific patients.