Why pain management for work is different

There are many people who have completed a pain management programme, know how to do things like breathing, working to quota (pacing), relaxation strategies, distraction and exercise - but when they are asked about returning to work say ‘I can do these things at home, but not at work’.
I have many books on pain management [...]

If you find it hard to slow down…

Self regulation is something we learn to do to achieve goals - it’s all about establishing what the goal is, find out how close we are to the goal, the gap between where we are and where we want to be, and what we need to do to get there. This is a reasonably [...]

Practical techniques of mindfulness

I’ve been looking around at quite a few different ways to learn and practice mindfulness. There are heaps and I realise that I’m just dipping my toe in water that has been flowing for many hundreds of years really.
If the essence of mindfulness is to be fully present, then most of us have probably [...]

News for people interested in hypnosis and imagery

Hypnosis and the analgesic effect of suggestions has been the subject of much study over the years. Only recently, however, have the specific effects of suggested analgesia vs deeper hypnotic induction been studied, and equally, it’s only been possible recently to study the mechanisms through which this phenomenon occurs.
In the January edition of Pain [...]

Group facilitation

I love working in groups! I love the diversity, and the way that learning occurs, and the challenges of energising and focusing groups. For me groupwork is one of the most demanding and yet rewarding aspects of my work.
There are many many sites on the internet that have a range of activities for groups - [...]

Pain management can’t be cloned

I’ve had occasion over the past few weeks to think about service delivery and teamwork and how to provide really good pain management programmes in a group context.
A problem with any interdisciplinary team is that the members of the team may change as staff leave, or are unwell, or even have annual leave(yes! we like [...]

Positive psychology - Polyanna or Promising?

I was hoping to post on positive psychology and chronic pain, but have failed to find any specific references using these two headings - I then had a brain-wave and without waiting for someone reading this to locate something for me… I remembered the body of research in contextual cognitive behavioural therapy - mainly by [...]

Hypnosis

Just included in this blog - my brief description of hypnosis and imagery in pain management! This is located in the ‘Coping Skills’ section - either click on the header above, or on the title on the link to the right.
If you have any questions or experiences using hypnosis, drop me a comment! [...]

Pacing

Take a look at this ‘oldie but goodie’ in the Coping Skills section of my blog.  Pacing is an often mis-used strategy for coping with pain. Don’t just assume you and your client/patient are talking the same language! Pacing is a part of rehabilitation, rather than a strategy for living with pain [...]