Table 1:

Classification of Tech Tools and Applications to Pain Care

CLASSES/TYPES OF TECHNOLOG	PAIN CARE APPLICATIONS AND PTL-INSPIRED USE CASES
Artificial intelligence (AI) Machine learning (ML) Computer vision (CV)	Automated detection of neural pain markers, inference of acute pain incidents (e.g., bracing/grimace detection), and adaptive therapeutic recommendations
Big data/data analytics/data mining/data science	Observational studies that surface trends in wide-scale pain prevalence, effects and complications of pain treatments, and other pain-relevant public health metrics (e.g., burden of disease)
Self-monitoring tools/apps (small data, self-experimentation)	Self-tracking and analysis to identify personal factors that may improve or worsen symptoms
Pervasive/ubiquitous sensing Smartphone/mobile sensing Environmental sensors Wearable sensors (clip-on, e-textiles built into fabric, ingestibles- and implantables– on/in/off body)	Can be used to track activity or physiological parameters related to pain (e.g., continuous passive monitoring to detect pain attacks, falls, and motion impairments) as well as to trigger just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAI) or optimally release medication
Interactive interfaces Self-(or proxy) report (prompted--EMA, IVR--or episodic reporting)	Can provide frequent, in-context, real-time data on subjective symptoms (pain, fatigue) and mood states, which can supplement retrospective assessments during clinical visits, as well as offer user-facing alerts (e.g., treatment or appointment reminders) and informatics (e.g., visualizations, reports, dashboards) to aid self-awareness and self-care
Extended reality (XR) VR Social VR Augmented reality  Mixed reality	Can implement existing or novel behavioral and rehabilitative interventions such as augmented cognitive-behavioral therapy, VR for management of procedure-related acute pain, and XR gaming for rehabilitation and sensory retraining.
Computer-mediated human-to-human communication (CMC) Social networks/social media SMS, email, telephone-based Videoconferencing	Can be integrated into multimodal chronic pain interventions (e.g., use of SMS to prompt adaptive behaviors; intermittent phone or video therapy sessions) to promote increased engagement, participation and outcomes and/or to complement other tech-based interventions (e.g., use of online, phone or video delivered “coaching”; use of social media peer-support groups).
Speech technologies Chatbot Voice assistant/smart speaker	Can provide automated instruction or feedback to individuals for psychosocial support and education to facilitate effective pain self-management.
Games (exergames, serious games)	“Serious”, or therapeutic, games can provide support, motivation, and skills training for pain self-management. Games for entertainment can provide distraction from pain. Exergames can help increase physical activity
E-learning (includes web-or mobile-based learning platforms)	Can be used to teach self-management strategies to individuals living with pain, or to providers for their treatment of patients with pain.