‘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 [...]

It’s hard work researching teamwork

After writing about teams and models and the distinct possibility of talking past each other, I had a very quick search for a paper on teamwork and models this morning, and came across this one by a group of Canadian researchers. It is, like many of these pieces of research into the messy 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 [...]

Self-care or medical care for low back pain: what patients want

For a while I’ve been asking what constitutes ’self management’ for chronic pain. On the one hand there are a group of people who firmly believe that regular medical treatment (including injections every three months or so) is a perfectly legitimate way to maintain a normal life. On the other hand there are people [...]

Fibromyalgia: an overview

I didn’t intend to get into a theme this week, but this paper arrived in my inbox this morning, and given both the prevalence of fibromyalgia, and the often ‘fuzzy’ management that can be provided, I thought it might be worthwhile taking a look at it.  The paper itself is a pre-print, but has been [...]

Chronic pain after surgery

Surgery is supposed to hurt. Well maybe not ’supposed’ to, but most people expect some pain after surgery – as one doctor said to me, it’s really ‘planned trauma’. The problem for some people is that the pain doesn’t settle afterwards – and up to 50% of people undergoing surgery can fail to [...]

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 [...]

The myth of core stability: part 2

Editor’s Selection Icon
Following on from yesterday’s post about core stability, today I want to look at training, back pain prevention and rehabilitation as it relates to core stability.
Motor learning moves from conscious attention to make certain movements through to movements that are basically over-learned or automatic. There are considerable differences in how a beginning [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]