The treatment of people suffering from persistent pain presents a unique challenge for the clinician, but can also be uniquely fulfilling. As any clinician will tell you, persistent pain has been on the rise across the developed world. Making meaningful improvements in recovery can often be difficult, especially when operating within a primarily biomedical paradigm. It is clear that clinicians need better strategies and tools to assist these individuals.
The human body and mind are incredibly strong and adaptable. This basic premise will guide us as we explore how to build resiliency and improve function in people living with pain. The course will cover how to improve higher-order skills to nurture therapeutic alliance and motivate active engagement in recovery. We will also learn the basics of how to calm down the sensitive nervous system and how to avoid imparting nocebo to our patients. We will focus primarily on how to build up a person’s resiliency and tolerance for meaningful activities in their life, with emphasis on building confidence and independence.
Content will include a heavy focus on practical clinical management of people living with persistent pain, including strategies to decrease nervous system hypersensitivity in order to decrease pain and to maximize functional recovery. This course is not intended to teach clinicians to perform pain neuroscience education (PNE); rather, it will focus on incorporating pain science principles to encourage paradigm shifts in the clinical management of this challenging but rewarding population. This will be an interactive course where clinicians can come together to grow in our mutual understanding of how to best help those with persistent pain take control of their lives and move towards meaningful recovery.