"Fortunately", the pain from my neck injury was so severe that it was taken seriously from the start.
My injury happened over two days – August 30-31, 2001 – when I was asked to reorganise the office's new filing system.
I woke up one morning in 1988 with a sore back.As the pain continued to increase, I consulted my general practitioner who referred me to an orthopedic surgeon. After some tests, I was told that there were no problems and that the pain should go away. It didn't.
6 when I was 17. Unrelated to any incident, I began to experience extreme back pain. I later discovered it was a degenerative disease with no cure, but at the time I thought it could just be 'fixed'.
Harry Perkins, son of Olympic champion swimmer and Painaustralia Director Kieren Perkins OAM, was diagnosed with chronic migraine at the tender age of eleven.
I was an advisory teacher when I suffered a spinal injury in 2007 that landed me in a Brisbane hospital emergency department.Thanks to a neurosurgeon, I regained the use of my left leg and the crushing pain eased. 
In 1962 at the age of 21, Renée was involved in a serious car accident that kept her in an English hospital - in a 40-bed geriatric ward - for nearly two years.
I was nine years old when I damaged the ligaments in my left leg in a hurdling accident.After a year of treatment my leg hadn't healed – in fact the pain had worsened and I was diagnosed with chronic regional pain syndrome. 
I injured my neck in 1993 while attending a Scout Jamboree in Canada as a carer for a child with cerebral palsy.My pain symptoms didn't really show up until 1997 when I started getting lots of neck and arm pain. 
I first incurred a serious back injury at work in 1985. It was not able to be evidence-based for five years (at the time of surgery).
As a chronic migraine sufferer I've lived with pain since I was a small child. With the help of sub-occipital electrodes and an implanted pulse generator (IPG implant) I can now manage my daily pain and rely less on heavy medications.
My first taste of pain and injury was when I was only three years old.We had a car accident and I had my lower lumbar joints damaged as well as whiplash injuries to my neck. No one knew this at the time, though, and by the time I was nine I was having X-rays on my back to find out why I was in so much pain.
September 23, 2006 was a beautiful, still, sunny autumn day.I was in the UK to visit my elderly mother and other family members and had taken the train to London to visit a friend.
Before my accident, about six years ago, I worked at a prestige car dealership in Brisbane. This work was physically demanding as well as being quite social. We all had to get on well as it could be quite a pressured environment and humour often kept us going.
I'd survived the traumas of a major motor car accident, the ignominity of a prostatectomy, and the despair and exasperation of three separate cancers and their harsh therapies, but nothing had prepared me for the greatest challenge of my life, dealing with chronic pain
It was during a long jump attempt at my school's athletics try-outs when I was nine that I first hurt myself.As usual, I ran and jumped but as I hit the sand I felt pain in what I thought was my ankle.
Breast cancer is a diagnosis heard all too often these days at 13,000 diagnoses a year in Australia.
I had two major cycling accidents in the 1980s which caused a spinal fracture and severe whiplash.I quickly got over the accidents and was fine until the early 1990s when I started to have migraines. This gradually progressed to daily migraines by 1996.
That Friday in June 1990 began like any other Friday – two adults, three teenagers, family pets, all heading out. I was totally unaware that this was the day "Super Mum" would die and life as I knew it would be over.
My problems started in the early 1980s with the introduction of computers in most public service departments.In 1986,
It happened on 28 August 2008 at 8.28am. Everything after that is a bit of a blur, but the moment the accident happened will be stuck in my memory forever.
Educational Resources
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"Expert consensus and a growing body of research says that best-practice pain management often requires coordinated interdisciplinary assessment and management involving, at a minimum, physical, psychological, and environmental risk factors in each patient." - National Pain Strategy, 2010 |
Painaustralia has complied a library of education resources with new knowledge about pain and best-practice treatment options to assist healthcare professionals.
Resources
- Dr Krane explains The Mystery of Chronic Pain on the YouTube educational platform, TedEducation
- Effective pain management in general practice is an engaging, interactive online educational program, now available at www.gplearning.com.au
- Free online tool for GP's and other healthcare professionals on Opioids and chronic pain - Genesis Education
Dealing with requests for new or repeat prescriptions for opioids may be problematic for GPs, especially if the patient requesting this is new to the practice or does not appear able to substantiate their claim. Consider the case of Nick, who is self mediating with OTC preparations and alcohol to deal with his back pain, or Pete, who presents at the pharmacy without a script and demands opioids. Consider also the role of opioids in the management of chronic pain and the system you have in place to assess and manage patients with chronic non cancer pain.
- Prescription Opioid Policy: Improving management of chronic non-malignant pain and prevention of problems associated with prescription opioid use - ANZCA and its Faulty of Pain Medicine
- Position Statement on the role of, and Standards for, Interventional Pain Management Procedures - Australian Pain Society
- Standards of Clinical Practice for Pain Management Nurses - Australian Pain Society
- Managing Acute Pain: A guide for patients - Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and its Faculty of Pain Medicine
- Acute Pain Management: scientific evidence (3rd Edition) - Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and its Faculty of Pain Medicine
- Emergency Care Acute Pain Management Manual - National Health and Medical Research Council
- Pain in Residential Aged Care Facilities - Australian Pain Society
- The PMG Kit for Aged Care - An implementation kit to accompany The Australian Pain Society's Pain in Residential Aged Care Facilities: Management Strategies - Edith Cowan University
- Pain Management Process - Australian Pain Society
- A Review of Opioid Prescribing in Tasmania: A Blueprint for the Future - NDARC
IASP Fact Sheets
Visceral Pain
- Epidemiology of Abdominal Pain
- Neurobiology of Visceral Pain
- Acute vs. Chronic Presentation of Visceral Pain
- Painful Functional Bowel Disorders: Psychological Factors
- Pancreatitis
- Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome
- Male Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome
- Chronic Chest Pain
- Functional Abdominal Pain Syndrome
Reading list
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Fast Facts: Chronic Pain & Cancer Pain The authors, renowned experts in pain medicine, say this book is aimed primarily at "the wide range of busy healthcare professionals who are well aware that they have experienced little or no education and training to help them manage patients with chronic pain". This colorful easy-to-read, yet evidence-packed, book provides a perfect overview to bring a reader up-to-speed with this vitally important area of pain management. |
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Manage your Pain - Manage Your Pain (3rd edition) is an Australian bestseller and self-management book developed by Prof Michael Nicholas along with a multidisciplinary team of pain specialists. |
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Explain Pain - A ground-breaking concept in its content and presentation, Explain Pain demystifies the process of understanding and managing pain. It brings the body to life in a way that makes an interesting read for therapists and pain sufferers alike.
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IOM: Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and Research - In this report, the IOM offers a blueprint for action in transforming prevention, care, education, and research, with the goal of providing relief for people with pain in America. To reach the vast multitude of people with various types of pain, the nation must adopt a population-level prevention and management strategy. The IOM recommends that HHS develop a comprehensive plan with specific goals, actions, and timeframes.
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A ground-breaking report The $6 Billion Woman and the $600 Million Girl, investigated the impact of pelvic pain in Australia. Prepared by the Painaustralia Pelvic Pain Steering Committee comprising Gynaecologist, Pain Medicine Physicians Dr Susan Evans (SA) and Professor Theirry Vancaille (Royal Women's Hospital), and Ms Deborah Bush QSM, CEO and Founder Endometriosis New Zealand, the report also provided pragmatic solutions to implementation and integration into womens heath services.
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Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain - In order to help women navigate the pelvic pain conundrum, leading gynaecologist and obstetrician, Dr Susan Evans has released Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain, a new and revised edition (first published in 2005). Produced in collaboration with Deborah Bush QSM, the paperback contains a wealth of information as well as stories from women who suffer pelvic pain.
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Oxford Pain Management Library: Pain in Older People - The book will also be of relevance to nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, clinical psychologists, pharmacists and other health care providers. |
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Oxford Pain Management Library: Chronic Pain - Chronic pain affects millions of patients worldwide and represents a substantial burden to society as a whole. In the UK, chronic pain is the third most common reason for a patient to visit a general practitioner. Poorly controlled pain not only affects patients, it also impinges on the quality of life of carers and can potentially lead to social isolation and family breakdown.
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Oxford Pain Management Library: Cancer-related bone pain - is experienced by patients with primary bone tumours such as myeloma and osteosarcoma, but is more commonly seen in patients with malignant tumours that have metastasised to bone. Bone pain is one of the most common and severe forms of pain associated with breast,prostate and lung cancer, yet little is known about the underlying mechanisms responsible for the pain.
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Oxford Pain Management Library: Acute Pain - Acute pain is experienced primarily in relation to surgery and trauma, but is also present in patients with burns, cancer, and other medical conditions. This compact volume of the Oxford Pain Management Library serves as a concise guide to treating acute pain in its many manifestations. Providing a background of basic science, this book covers the fundamentals of pain, the pharmacology of drugs used, and summarises the current evidence base for the management of acute pain.
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Oxford Pain Management Library: Neuropathic Pain - Neuropathic pain is increasingly recognized as a chronic disabling condition. It is frequently thought of as harder to treat than other pain types, and it often results in a poorer quality of life. Around 30% of adults in the UK alone have some type of chronic pain and some estimates suggest that one in five of these will have symptoms of neuropathic pain.
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Managing Persistent Pain in Adolescents, A Handbook for Therapists Rogers, an occupational therapist at Royal Children's Hospital, Australia, promotes a multidisciplinary approach to pain management in adolescent patients, acknowledging that persistent pain is a complex biopsychosocial problem. The book considers factors such as lifestyle, family relationships, and self-management, and describes practical, applied strategies incorporating meditation, relaxation and imagery exercises, and physical fitness.
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Pain: a textbook for Therapists This is the first complete textbook designed for physiotherapists and occupational therapists on the topic of pain. It was developed for use in conjunction with the International Association for the Study of Pain's pain curriculum for OTs and PTs. The book addresses the nature of pain, the neuroanatomical and neurophysiological substrates of pain, the psychological aspects of pain, the lifespan approach to pain, pain measurement, pain and placebo, modalities for treating pain, and special topics in pain
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Guide to Pain Management in Low-Resource Settings is intended to support health care providers in low-resource settings. Chapters were written by a multidisciplinary and multinational team of authors. Practitioners in settings with limited resources will benefit from easy-to-read information about simple and cost-effective approaches that can provide maximum effects in managing pain in their patients.
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Chronic Pain: An Integrated Biobehavioral Approach - offers in a single volume the most comprehensive and in-depth view of the field currently available. Drs. Flor and Turk share their collective knowledge and professional insights accumulated over three decades of extraordinary contributions to the field....
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Back Pain - A movement problem - by Josephine Key, is a practical manual to assist all students and clinicians concerned with the evaluation, diagnosis and management of the movement related problems seen in those with spinal pain disorders |
Books can be obtained from any good book store, or are available online at Amazon, Fishpond etc.