Watch the Lecture

How to Help

Many patients have unreasonable expectations that pain medication will ease ALL of their suffering.
Medication will only help with about 25-30% pain relief.
A holistic body and mind approach is required.
Many patients do not consider how things like poor sleep, nutrition, lack of exercise, or untreated depression/anxiety can contribute to compounding pain symptoms.
Opioids can also cause hypersensitivity to pain and can stop working after a short period of time.
Opioids can help manage pain in the short term, however not enough evidence exists about the benefits of long-term opioid use

Learn how to talk to your patients about chronic pain using a holistic approach

Watch the short video below for useful analogy in communicating alternative options for pain management

Running time 2:02 minutes

Review and Utilize Specially Designed Patient Communication Tool

This tool assists patients to think through a menu of choices and illustrates the point that pain medication is only one part of the whole equation.

Road to Recovery Picture.PNG

Get on The Road to Recovery Aimee Techau 2017.pdf

Review the Persistent Pain Wheel vs. Persistent Gain Wheel

Utilize this tool to help communicate the difference between a persistent pain cycle vs. persistent gain cycle

Choosing your Wheels-Persistent Gain Wheel-Patient Handout .pdf

Learn Basic CBT Skills

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a top recommended treatment for chronic pain offering an astounding 30-50% reduction in pain intensity.
Print this short CBT exercise that you can do with all your patients experiencing pain.

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View the CAM infographic

Specially created to discuss non-pharmacological and complementary alternative methods for pain. Research sourced from the NIH website.

Non-drug Picture.PNG

Complementary_Alternative_Approaches_to_Pain 2017.pdf -PLEASE CLICK HERE 3 Pages

Learn how to talk to your patients about chronic pain using a holistic approach

Watch the short video below for useful analogy in communicating alternative options for pain management

Running time 2:02 minutes