Painkillers aren’t the only answer! Simplifying pain science to better manage a patient’s pain #323

Understanding and managing your patient’s pain can be extremely difficult. Liam West spoke to Dr. Tasha Stanton to tap into her vast expertise in the area of pain science. Dr. Stanton is a Senior Research Fellow for the “Body in Mind” group in Australia and has a background in physiotherapy, spinal biomechanics and pain neuroscience. Her work to date has led to several prestigious pain science awards. In this podcast she explains the disconnect between tissue damage and the pain experience, why people experience different levels of pain to the same stimulus and shares how to explain pain to a patient within a clinic setting. Related Articles Discordance between findings on scans (i.e., tissue damage) and pain Hannan MT, Felson DT, and Pincus T. 2000. Analysis of the discordance between radiographic changes and knee pain in osteoarthritis of the knee. J Rheumatology 27:1513-1517. Brinjikji et al American Journal of Neuroradiology 2015;36:811-16 Central sensitisation: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3268359/ http://www.noigroup.com/en/Product/EPBII Things that fire together, wire together: http://www.noigroup.com/en/Product/EPSB Explaining the neurobiology of pain: Moseley GL, Butler DS. Fifteen years of Explaining Pain. J Pain. 2015;16:807-13 Our sensations (including pain) are based on the believable, credible evidence that is available to us: Expectations of pain can be important: Bingle et al. Sci Transl Med 2011;3:70ra14 Other sensory input can change pain – the stinky smell study: Bartolo et al PAIN 2013 Our sensations are influence by the meaning that we attach to information: Moseley, Arntz. PAIN 2007;133:64-71 People with chronic pain are not good at learning safety (extinguishing fear to what was painful movement): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27776989 A feeling of control and pain: http://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0033-2909.90.1.89 Associated Podcasts Prof Moseley on the brain and mind in chronic pain - http://bit.ly/1u33pPY Pain coach and first patient contact for pain management - http://bit.ly/2DHCaGa Am I safe to move? Prof Moseley on understanding pain and focusing on the patient - http://bit.ly/2nmCAqu Podcast Quotes “Things that fire together, wire together” “Things that change the ‘need to protect’ your body changes pain”