Chronic pain management is NOT just like ‘any other chronic disease’

The other day someone said to me that managing chronic pain was just the same as managing something like diabetes, hypertension, asthma or any other chronic disease.  It irked me at the time and I couldn’t put my finger on just what it was that bothered me, but after a couple of days thinking about [...]

Self regulation – what it is and what to do

So, if self regulation is about exerting control over thoughts, feelings, actions and physiology, how does it work?
When I skipped through some Google references last night (o font of all knowledge!) I found a good number of sites referring to self regulation and children – but not nearly as many relating to adults, or the [...]

I’m so tired of coping: Self regulation, executive functions and chronic pain

Changes take energy – that’s nothing new, I know, but perhaps something as clinicians we might forget when we work with people who have chronic pain. I was thinking about this as I’ve had a week away from regular blogging so I could focus on writing and some self care.  Things are busy and [...]

That old mind-body thing again…

Editor’s Selection IconI am not a philosopher.  Neither am I very conversant in the arguments around consciousness.  But working in pain management means the mind-body debate is something I run into now and again.  Is pain all about the body? Is pain all about the mind? Or is it both?  Which influences the other?
This debate [...]

Feeling the pain: distraction/relaxation or exposure

It’s not the pain, it’s the judgement of the pain that makes it so distressing – or at least, that’s how the cognitive behavioural model of pain views our experience of pain. As a result, most pain management therapies working to help people manage when their pain can’t be removed involves reviewing how people [...]

Coping: what is it?

Some of you will know I’ve been striving to write my PhD proposal lately, ending up with loads more words than actually necessary! However, as part of it I’ve been reviewing some of the material I’ve collected over time on coping.
Coping is one of those difficult words – one we all know, but don’t [...]

Health Anxiety

We used to call it hypochondriasis – and that’s a term loaded with unhelpful meanings if ever there was one!  What hypochondriasis meant was ‘it’s in your head, there’s nothing wrong with you, go away and pull yourself together’.  Ask someone who has had an episode of noncardiac chest pain to ‘go away and pull [...]

The myth of core stability

Editor’s Selection IconFads come and fads go, and no more so than in managing back pain. One of the more durable fads has been the plethora of exercises to ’strengthen the core’. I’ve been searching for a good review of the literature on core stability, and surprisingly found one in a journal I [...]

Patient-determined outcomes: If you can’t take my pain away, then at least let me do more

If I had a dollar for every time that I’ve asked someone what they would like from pain management and they’ve answered ‘take my pain away’ – well I wouldn’t be writing this blog early in the morning before work!
The findings from this piece of research by Thorne and Morley (2009) suggests that people think [...]

Pain Management Programmes: Guidelines

I was wandering through the internet as I do, and came across several resources that might be useful if you’re thinking about what goes into a pain management programme.
They’re not very detailed in terms of the disciplines involved, or even the contents of a programme (such as relaxation, fitness, diet, information on chronic pain) because [...]