Chronic pain affects about ten per cent of the population at some time in their life. It is pain which persists for three months of more, or in the case of an injury, longer than the normal healing time. Sufferers frequently become less and less active. They begin to lose confidence, grow irritable and often depressed. Interpersonal relationships become strained and work suffers. Pain Management Programmes, popular in countries like the United Kingdom and the United States of America for the past twenty five years, aim to reverse these trends. They are designed to give back control to the sufferers by helping them understand their condition and teaching them how to cope with their drastically changed lives. They are primarily rehabilitation programmes and are offered to pain sufferers when all reasonable attempts at treatment have failed; they are not a cure, but they have proven to have a long lasting beneficial effect for patients.

The pain management programme is an intensive four week course of three days each week. It totals almost 100 hours of therapy on an out patient basis. It is a programme of rehabilitation and aims to reduce disability and psychological distress, improve physical activity and achieve goals such as return to work. All activities are carried out in low tech groups of no more than eight with individual treatment, with group sessions and group discussions. Participants will learn new skills and be given an insight into, and an understanding of their physical condition. The activities of the programme include Physical training, Physiotherapy, Relaxation, Goal Setting, Pacing, Coping Strategies, Swimming, Group discussion, Education.

The Pain Management Programme for chronic pain sufferers is not a cure, and no cure is promised. It is designed to help chronic pain sufferers for whom all reasonable attempts at treatment have failed. Experience and results in other countries show that patients who undertake the programme do benefit. Having completed the programme, chronic pain sufferers should be more active, more confident, feel less isolated and be less reliant on medication and on other people.

It will be run by highly qualified personnel, headed by Dr. Jack Barrett, Consultant Anaesthetist who has twenty years experience in the pain field, eight abroad and twelve in Cork, with Dr. Gillian Moore-Groarke, Consultant Psychologist with eight years experience in health psychology; she is also the author of four books. Two physiotherapists, a dietician, occupational therapist and a Tai-Chi instructer also work as part of the team.

What conditions can be helped?
Back Pain, Headache, Joint Pain, Facial Pain, Neuralgias, Fibromyalgia, Soft Tissue Pain.

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REFERRALS

How do I attend the programme? A patient needs to be referred by their family doctor or hospital specialist. An appointment will then be made for you to attend the Assessment Clinic to determine suitability for the programme. This will include a medical, psychological and physiotherapy assessment. If you are suitable for the programme, and if your doctor agrees that it would be helpful to you, a place will be offered at a suitable time. On completion of the programme participants will be invited to return at 1, 3, and 6 month intervals for review and to reinforce what was learned on the programme. These reviews will also afford an opportunity to correct any problems which may have arisen. The Group setting is regarded as highly important and its communal atmosphere will be encouraged during the programme. However each individual will get a lot of personal attention to help their particular problem. Partners and family are encouraged to attend to see how the patient is progressing, as are work colleagues if this is appropriate. Each group will be joined by two new members each fortnight, and two will leave.

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For further information please contact: The Pain Management Group, Tramway House, Douglas East, Cork, Ireland Phone/Fax: +353 21 4365622 E-mail: painmanagement@eircom.net