Effective treatment for chronic pain
Move Without Fear | Move Well | Move More
In Person in Exeter & Online from Anywhere
01392 982598
A more modern approach to pain management
Most patients with persistent pain will be familiar with the term ‘pain management’. Working together with our patients we prefer to ‘treat’ persistent pain rather than simply ‘manage’ it. And this is actually easier than it sounds when you focus on treating the brain and nervous system rather than just the body part that hurts. We follow a modern, biopsychosocial philosophy using a team of specialists in pain physiotherapy, psychology and pain medicine to really understand the route causes of our patients’ problems, and deliver effective, life-changing treatment.
Pain is always real (it’s what the sufferer says it is), it needs to be unpleasant in order to grab your attention and happens when your brain (mostly subconsciously) concludes that, on balance, your body is somehow under threat. Pain perception is certainly influenced by tissue quality but this is only to a limited degree in many cases and especially the longer a pain problem has gone on. It always involves your immune, autonomic and endocrine systems and is shaped by emotions, prior experiences, beliefs and expectations as well as the social context of the sufferer. Developing a more accurate understanding of why we feel bodily symptoms, one that decreases fear and encourages movement without thoughts of causing harm, is a vital part of feeling better again. Improving sleep quality, lifestyle habits as well as all aspects of physical and mental wellbeing can have really profound effects on how we feel and function.
Unfortunately, the mainstream more medically-focused view of pain often fails to appreciate the real underlying reasons for how and why we perceive bodily symptoms. The general assumption underlying this approach is that pain is always a result of damage to tissues and that scans and other tests will identify the problems so that medicine and surgery can put things right again. You cannot scan pain, in the same way that you cannot scan hunger or fatigue; pain is a perception, not a direct sensation caused by something that is structurally wrong with the body.
Specialist Pain Clinic
Research clearly shows that treatment for persistent pain is most effective when delivered by a team of specialists working together with the patient who ultimately makes informed decisions about their own care. An assessment with our Specialist Pain Physiotherapist or Pain Doctor is how most people access their treatment with us. This is ideally in person to start with although can be accessed online if needed. As well as taking into account physical and medical considerations, your assessment will also touch on how thoughts, feelings and emotions could be affecting your pain. For many patients this is at a basic level encouraging them to reappraise how pain relates to bodily health in what is often a more accurate and healthy way. For a small number, however, deeper psychological difficulties can be a barrier to effective treatment if not dealt with adequately and they may require more involved therapy with our psychology team. With persistent pain, structural problems with the body are usually not the main issue and so whilst a well thought out medication regimen could provide a really useful short term window of relief, it is something that we usually want to taper and eventually cease as other treatments, that are more effective long term, start to take effect.
Scroll down for more details about how our treatment services work.
In person, thorough, specialist physio for persistent pain
A great deal of what we do can be done remotely from anywhere as it is education based
Psychotherapy and psychology in person and online
As well as having our own Specialist Pain Doctor onsite, we also collaborate with patients’ own GPs and other existing specialists
Our clinic in Exeter
Our clinic in Exeter is know for its warm, inviting atmosphere and friendly staff. Our aim is to do everything we can to make you feel relaxed and comfortable on your visits. Our patients are always treated with empathy, dignity, respect and privacy.
Our mission is to deliver world class treatment programmes for persistent pain both in person as well as online.
