How we treat pain

In order to recover from chronic pain, several approaches are required.

Pain diagnosis

You may require further diagnostic tests but usually a review of the tests, investigations and specialist opinions that you bring with you will be sufficient.

Pain education

Understanding why you have pain and how to treat it forms the basis of the initial consultation. You may be offered an initial pain education program called Kick Start. This is a 3-hour group program lead by a pain medicine specialist, a physiotherapist and a psychologist. There are many other education resources that will be available to you for example literature and online resources.

Medication management

Most people would prefer not to take medications long term. It is important to decide which medications are vital to treat chronic pain and which are no longer required. Sometimes this process of medication transition from unhelpful medications to helpful medications may take several months.

Physical therapies

It is important to maintain physical stamina because this will enhance psychological stamina and the ability to manage pain. Creating muscle mass versus fat is a useful tool to reduce pain. Physical strengthening usually starts with pilates type exercises that promote core tone so that more intense activity can be tolerated. We promote active therapies including exercise programs that are tailored to your specific needs. Occasionally other treatments such as dry needling, acupuncture or Botox can be helpful to shift pain treatment to more active therapies.

Psychological treatment

We would like to support you through the difficult times where pain influences your emotional well-being. New tools to manage tension that is caused by pain can help to transform your pain experience. When we understand your responses to pain and other stressors, we can assist you to achieve whole person wellness.

Sleep hygiene

A full night’s sleep is our goal. When you sleep well your pain and response to pain improve. We can assist with practical tools to manage sleep deficit. We will also explore helpful activities to assist with falling to sleep and staying asleep.

Nutritional support

We believe that good nutrition is extremely important in order to manage pain. Our team will guide you through valued food alternatives and intensively support your nutritional journey. We will assist you with achieving realistic nutritional goals.

Interventional pain procedures

Sometimes a limited pain management procedure such as a cortisone and local anaesthesia injection is helpful. This treatment may assist you to engage more fully with physical therapies. We use more sophisticated treatments involving radio-frequency ablation in selected cases to provide more sustained analgesia. Case conferencing- This is a process where your pain condition is confidentially discussed by a team of pain management professionals. We meet weekly to discuss the individual needs of people presenting with pain in order to collaboratively find new solutions and improve pain outcomes.