‘What do I do when I’ve had enough’: The Effect of Emotions on Self-regulation & Chronic Pain

As soon as read the first paragraph of the paper I’ve used as the basis for this post, I knew I was onto something that resonated with my original occupational therapy values. It says this:
‘Living with chronic pain is a balancing act. People with chronic pain are required to make daily decisions [...]

Goal setting — again!

This post is most definitely an opinion piece, because once again I’m struggling with the practicalities of goal setting with people experiencing chronic pain. There is no doubt at all that goal setting is an integral part of pain management – it’s designed to focus the input, make sure the underlying reasons for using [...]

Safety behaviours – do they maintain kinesiophobia?

Let me start by saying this post is conjecture, but based both on observing patients, and after reading an interesting paper on ’subtle avoidance and safety behaviours relevant to social anxiety’.
First some definitions: I hope you’re all familiar with the term ‘kinesiophobia’, or ‘fear of movement’ – it’s the fear and avoidance of movements that [...]

How do you decide when to stop doing something?

There are plenty of times when it’s easy to give up on doing something – just ask me to do the vacuum cleaning or do a workout at the gym! On the other hand, there are plenty of times when someone close to me sighs and asks ‘How long are you going to be?’ [...]

The walking accident zone…

Luke (not his real name – you know I disguise details to protect confidentiality) is a man in his mid-20’s who is a walking accident zone.  He tells me he’s broken ‘every bone’ in his body – and while it’s not exactly true, he has certainly broken a few of them!  The reason he came [...]

Feeling the fear – and not even thinking about doing it

Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is basically the fear of feeling anxious, or feeling anxiety-related symptoms. Typically, when people are fearful of their own symptoms of anxiety, they’ll work to avoid getting into situations where they may experience these symptoms.  AS has been shown to be a predisposing factor in some anxiety-related disorders such as panic attacks.   [...]

Occupational Therapists in New Zealand – Survey and a prize!

A collegue of mine, Blair Cross, is conducting a survey on beliefs and attitudes about back pain in occupational therapists.  Here is his introduction to the survey:
Invitation to Complete an OT Internet Survey

BE IN TO WIN!! ‘The Back Pain Revolution’ – a textbook by G. Waddell ($220)

Dear fellow OT’s
I have developed an on-line survey [...]

Musing about activity levels

Last week I spent a little time looking at activity regulation, and especially looking at over-activity or persistence, rather than the usual under-activity or avoidance pattern.  I was reading an in press paper by Hans Heneweer, Luc Vanhees and Susan Picavet, looking at a proposed ‘U-shaped’ relationship between activity and the development of low [...]

Activity levels – a ‘budgeting’ approach

Unlike most of my posts, this one doesn’t have specific research to back it up. I guess this reflects the lack of research in the area of applied pain management! After discussing activity levels, especially over-doing activity, I thought it might be helpful to review some of the ways I’ve worked with people [...]

Fine tuning activity levels

A couple of days ago I wrote about activity patterns, and a study from Maastricht University that looked at the variable levels of activity that people with chronic pain can engage in. The study was designed to look at the pattern of activity from day to day, and found ‘… that for most of [...]