Pain Management Programmes

There are several Pain Programmes run at the Pain Clinic that may be recommended to patients as part of their treatment.

The STEPs programme was mentioned earlier, and is most suitable for patients newly referred to the RPA Pain Centre providing generalised information and advice suitable for all chronic pain patients. Patients attend this programme before their individualised pain assessment.

Our Pain Education Programme, or PEP, is a low intensity programme that runs one afternoon a week for eight weeks. The programme is mainly run by a Clinical Psychologist, an Occupational Therapist and a Nurse Practitioner, with input from various other team members.

Our intensive pain management programme, or PMP-I, is a high intensity programme that runs every weekday 9-5pm for three weeks. The programme is mainly run by a Clinical Psychologist, Physiotherapist and Nurse Practitioner, with input from various other team members.

It is normal to feel anxious or worried about joining one of these groups. Some patients wonder if they will be able to cope with the hours. Please be assured that the programmes are designed for people with chronic pain. Patients are given adequate breaks and encouraged to get up and move/stretch at regular intervals. The groups focus on education about chronic pain, pain management strategies such as pacing, meditation, general health and well-being, medication management, graded exercises and improvements in psychological problems such as depression and anxiety. Graduates of the programmes often report that a helpful part of the programme was simply meeting others who also experience chronic pain as this condition can be quite isolating.

The aims of the PEP are:

• Active engagement in self-managing chronic pain
  
  
• Change of focus from looking for a cure to learning to cope with chronic pain
  
  
• Acceptance of chronic pain
  
  
• Development of a wide range of active pain coping strategies
  
  
• Increased understanding of chronic pain
  
  
• Reduction in anxiety about pain, movement and the risk of re-injury
  
  
• Reduced reliance on aids, such as sticks, neck braces and so on
  
  
• Increased confidence in the ability to live a productive and happy life
  
  
• Understanding of appropriate medication use and reduced reliance on medications
  
  
• Reduced health care utilisation, such as less visits to specialists and physiotherapists, and less hospital admissions
  
  
• Prevention of treatment escalation to increasingly more invasive and costly procedures and investigations
  
  
• Improvements in psychological problems such as depression and anxiety
  
  
• Improved interpersonal communication
  
  
• Improvements in relationships, both at work and at home

The aims of the PMP-I are similar to the PEP with the added focus of:

• Improved return-to-work outcomes
  
  
• Reduction in the number of sick days
  
  
• Increased collaboration between patient, treatment providers and treatment funders