It can seem that nothing can make a real difference.

A process or approach that improves understanding of what drives the pain and allows resilience to develop can empower the person.

I find that it helps to demystify pain, by explaining how pain is felt in our bodies and working out with each client how to best manage their pain.

Understanding that all pain is real and the reasons why things hurt can really help. For example, learning about:

• what movements or situations increase or decrease pain
• how pain is produced by the brain
• how body systems respond to injury and what happens after the injury
• how this contributes to the ongoing experience of pain
• why pain can persist after an injury when there has been heaps of time to heal

Understanding pain can give people the power to challenge pain and to find new ways of seeing and experiencing it.

This can lead to management strategies that significantly improve quality of life and ability to engage with pleasurable or meaningful activities.

And of course reduce or eliminate the pain problem.