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REVIEW article

Front. Med.

Sec. Precision Medicine

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1659490

This article is part of the Research TopicMixed Pain: A challenging diseaseView all 4 articles

Mixed Pain: Clinical Practice Recommendations

Provisionally accepted
Giustino  VarrassiGiustino Varrassi1*Giacomo  FarìGiacomo Farì2Marco Antonio  Narvaez TamayoMarco Antonio Narvaez Tamayo3Maria  Patricia GomezMaria Patricia Gomez4Aura Marixa  Guerrero LiñeiroAura Marixa Guerrero Liñeiro5Carla  Leal PereiraCarla Leal Pereira6Ezzat  Samy AzizEzzat Samy Aziz7Christopher  GhariboChristopher Gharibo8Alan  KayeAlan Kaye9Luis  Garcia-LarreaLuis Garcia-Larrea10Matteo Luigi Giuseppe  LeoniMatteo Luigi Giuseppe Leoni11
  • 1Fondazione Paolo Procacci, Rome, Italy
  • 2Universita del Salento, Lecce, Italy
  • 3Pain Management Unit, Hospital Obrero, La Paz, Bolivia, La Paz, Bolivia
  • 4Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia
  • 5Colsubsidio Health Research Center. Bogotá, Colombia, Bogotà, Colombia
  • 6Pain Center, São Luis Hospital, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sao Paulo, Brazil
  • 7Department of Anesthesia, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt, Cairo, Egypt
  • 8Pain Management Center, University of New York, New York, United States
  • 9Louisiana State University Shreveport, Shreveport, United States
  • 10Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France
  • 11Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences and Translational Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Mixed pain, defined by the concurrent involvement of nociceptive, neuropathic, and sometimes nociplastic mechanisms, poses a significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenge within modern pain medicine. This complex pain phenotype is increasingly recognized as a prevalent and burdensome clinical entity, yet it remains substantially underdiagnosed and sub-optimally managed across diverse healthcare settings. Epidemiological data indicate that mixed pain affects a substantial proportion of patients with chronic pain syndromes and is consistently associated with more severe symptomatology, prolonged pain duration, functional impairment, diminished quality of life, and escalated healthcare resource utilization compared to pain of a single mechanism. In response to this unmet clinical need, the present recommendations aim to provide a structured, evidence-informed framework for the diagnosis and management of mixed pain. Developed through a rigorous process involving systematic literature review and multidisciplinary expert consensus, this document emphasizes the importance of mechanism-based therapeutic strategies tailored to the individual patient's pain profile. Central to the approach is the implementation of multimodal and interdisciplinary care models that address the biological, psychological, and functional dimensions of mixed pain. These recommendations are intended for a broad spectrum of healthcare professionals, including primary care physicians, pain specialists, neurologists, oncologists, physiatrists, nurses, pharmacists, physical and occupational therapists, and clinical psychologists. The target population encompasses patients affected by mixed pain conditions such as chronic low back pain with radiculopathy, cancer-related pain, persistent postsurgical pain, and osteoarthritis complicated by central sensitization. By facilitating accurate diagnosis and integrated treatment planning, these recommendations seek to advance clinical practice, reduce the burden of mixed pain, and enhance patient-centered outcomes. This guidance aims to transform mixed pain care by promoting mechanism-based, multidisciplinary strategies with direct clinical applicability.

Keywords: Mixed pain, Multimodal analgesia, neuropathic pain, Nociceptive Pain, Nociplastic pain, Interdisciplinary care, Pain Management

Received: 04 Jul 2025; Accepted: 09 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Varrassi, Farì, Narvaez Tamayo, Gomez, Guerrero Liñeiro, Pereira, Samy Aziz, Gharibo, Kaye, Garcia-Larrea and Leoni. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Giustino Varrassi, giuvarr@gmail.com

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