Pain management physiotherapy

We know that living with chronic pain can be really difficult. There is currently no cure for chronic pain and for some people their pain may not improve, or may get worse and need ongoing management.

However, there can be improvements in quality of life even if the pain remains unchanged. The aim of pain management physiotherapy is to help support and guide you in managing your condition and improve your quality of life.

Living well with chronic pain can be achieved in many ways. Strategies could include any of the following:

• Activity and movement
• flare-up management
• addressing stress
• focusing on valued activities
• social engagement
• improving your sleep quality
• practical pain management strategies.

We tend to tailor our treatment towards your valued goals. Examples of valued goals may be:

• Spending more time family
• being more active
• managing day-to-day tasks without flare-ups.

Please take a moment to note down couple of goals that may be important to you.

Movement

Physiotherapists can give advice and guidance on therapeutic movement to help you to return or continue your valued activities. Some of the benefits of movement/exercise includes improved:

• Strength and power
• Balance
• Flexibility
• Body control and Resilience
• Confidence
• Mental wellbeing
• Pain management

Some people may be concerned about starting exercise due to past negative experiences where exercises caused a flare-up of their pain. Pain physiotherapists specialise in supporting people living with chronic pain to engage with achievable exercise.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to exercise and pain. We will explore suitable exercises with you, which you can then practise at home. At your next appointment, we will then adapt these, based on your experience and feedback.

There are generally no long-term risks of exercise in relation to chronic pain, please ask your physiotherapist if you are unsure on the benefits and risks to the treatment suggested.

Appointments

First appointments can take up to one hour. You can help prepare for the appointment by thinking of any goals that we could support you to work towards. The physiotherapist may do an examination, therefore you may want to wear a vest and bring some shorts or loose trousers.

Follow-up appointments will take up to 30 minutes. The layout of follow-up appointments are usually as follows:

• 5 min to catch up with how you have been doing, and to check if you have anything you would like to cover in the session (this is called ‘agenda setting’).
• 5-10 min to review progress towards goal and problem solve any difficulties.
• 10 min to work on new exercises/activities/skills to help support your goals or pain management.
• 5 min to write down homework and/or plan.

You can help make the most of your appointment by preparing a summary of your progress and outlining any questions you have at the beginning of the appointment.

Attendance policy

We understand that things happen and you may not be able to attend your appointment.

Please contact the physiotherapy department on 01223 216633 at your earliest convenience if you need to rearrange.

Please note: the hospital policy states that you will be discharged if you do not attend (DNA) your appointment without any notice, or if you cancel on two consecutive occasions.

If you are struggling to get in, you may want to change your appointment to a telephone or video appointment, so that we can still use the time.