What do I have in my pain Toolkit?

What is a Pain Toolkit?

Peter Moore came up with the concept in 2002 while writing a self-management article for healthcare professionals all over Europe to help their patients manage pain. He is also a chronic pain sufferer and realised that what he had actually written was a Toolkit of pain management skills that he could use to better manage his life and teach others to do the same.

Just like a mechanic needs a set of tools to fix cars, so does someone with chronic pain.
There are 12 tools and to get the best result they need to be used everyday. You need to be an active participant in self managing your pain and not expect your team to do all the work.

1. Acceptance- The most important tool, realising that you have chronic pain and want to try and self manage it.
2. Get involved- You will need support from family, friends, professionals, these make up your team but you need to put the work in as well.
3. Pacing - Don't try to do everything in one go, have frequent breaks and spread it out over the day one bit at a time 
4. Prioritising- Look at what needs doing and what can wait for another day
5. Setting Goals- Make realistic goals daily that you can achieve, you can always ask your team for help
6. Be patient- Don't get annoyed with yourself if you are not doing as well as you want, it takes time and you need to realise nothing will change overnight, it may take weeks or months 
7. Relaxation- This can be anything you find helps to relax tense muscles and calm the mind, meditation, listening to music, reading or having a bath are some examples
8. Exercising- This is one of the last things you feel like doing when in pain but it is important even just simple stretches to help tight muscles, gentle swimming or just walking in the water. Over time the body will be grateful for it. Talk with your Physiotherapist about a programme.
9. Track progress- Great way to see how well you have been doing and any improvements needed by keeping a diary of your activities.
10. Setback plans- Talk to your professionals about this if you are not sure, these are great for when you have flare-up's to help you self manage  
11. Teamwork- You are not on your own your team are there to help you when you need them, they can help you to track your progress and make action plans.
12. Daily practice- This is important and will become routine after a while, all part of self managing pain 

COPE PAIN MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME

23\06 I went to the Pain Management centre at the UCLH for an introduction session on the Cope Pain Management Programme. The aims and content of the programme, what taking part involves and how it is run was all explained very clearly at the start.
The room was full of people all with different conditions and degrees of disability. There were two professionals who took the session, Physiotherapist and a Psychologist. The session was divided into two parts the first half the Physiotherapist spoke about pain from a medical point of view discussing the anatomy and physiology aspect  and the difference between acute and chronic pain. The second half the Psychologist talked about what impact pain has on our emotions, family, work etc.
We were encouraged to move about as much as we needed in order to be comfortable, they even had mats if we wanted to lye down, and they even had a timer set for them to change positions regularly, which was the first time I had seen this in a session. I needed to get up from my wheelchair a lot as I get stiff but didnt feel embarrassed.
Both speakers were excellent and gave you a really good understanding about pain from both sides, they said it was a 'self management' programme where you are taught new skills to help reduce the effect of pain on your life, it will not take away your pain but help you manage it better, you need to be able to attend all sessions of the programme and carrying out tasks at home in between the sessions, some people will find this physically and emotionally demanding, the team will help you manage these if they arise they encourage you to turn up when having a flare-up even if you can only stay for a short time as they can help you through it. You will have a one-one session with a member from the team who will discuss with you whether the programme is suitable based on your current situation, it might be that you want to delay starting until later when you feel more ready.  There is a waiting list so not sure when I will receive my appointment for my one-one session. If the programme is not suitable you can have individual psychology sessions, physio, pain med and medical interventions instead.