The Pain Management Service is part of the Lothian Pain Service and is based at the Astley Ainslie Hospital, Edinburgh.
Our aim is to help reduce the effect pain is having on an individual’s quality of life through self management strategies in a predominantly group based environment.
Pain management helps you to think about the areas of your life that pain has affected, such as day to day function, work, family, activity and mood, and how these could be improved. Research tells us that pain management programmes are helpful for people with persistent pain.
Many people find that they can get caught in a vicious cycle with pain which might look a bit like this:
Pain management helps us to start to understand this vicious cycle and consider ways we can start to step back from it.
How could pain management help?
- Improve your understanding of pain
- Help reduce fear around physical activity
- Help address the impact pain has on your mood
- Improve your quality of sleep
- Learn relaxation skills to manage stress and pain
- Help friends and family understand your pain
What should I expect when I come to the Pain Management service?
- You may initially be invited to attend an online pain management education session to learn more about the service and what we offer.
- You will be assessed by a specialist pain Physiotherapist or Psychologist.
- Your assessment appointment will last approximately 50 minutes and you can bring a friend or family member to this appointment.
- You will be asked to complete a questionnaire about your pain/ how you are coping.
- We will discuss how this service might help. You may be offered to attend a pain management group.
The Pain Management Programme – what to expect
The Pain Management Programme is an opportunity to learn more about Pain Management Techniques and start putting these into practise.
- Each session lasts 3 hours (including breaks)
- 10 weekly sessions and a 3-month follow-up
- The programme can either be online or face-to-face (at the Astley Ainslie Hospital)
The Pain Management Programme will always be run by a Pain Specialist Physiotherapist and Psychologist. It is with a group of people with similar experiences. We recognise that living with Chronic Pain can be isolating and it can be helpful to meet others with similar experiences and consider together how to build tools to step back from the vicious cycle of pain. You will not be expected to share in depth details about your own experiences, but rather there is a focus on feeding back how building in changes helps you.
During the programme, we will provide you with programme workbooks and handouts. We will also direct you to videos and resources to watch in your own time.
There is a big focus on practising skills, both within the group, but even more importantly, outside of our group sessions. We think of it almost like starting to put together a Jigsaw puzzle like below, noticing how all these things might come together to help us live the best life we can alongside our pain.
Further information can be found in the leaflets below:
Information about the Pain Management Service at the Astley Ainslie Hospital
Education Session patient handout
Starting a Pain Management Programme Information Leaflet
2022 WEBINARS from Flippin’ Pain
in association with NHS Scotland and and the Scottish Government. You will find more Flippin Pain videos in youtube that are free to watch.
The webinars below were held live in early 2022 and include experts in the field as well as people living with persistent pain.
Flippin Pain video on Arthritis:
Flippin’ EVERYTHING you thought you knew about arthritis. 23.03.22 – YouTube
Why everything matters when it comes to Pain;
Rethinking Pain: New Understanding & New Possibilities. 15.02.22 – YouTube
Why EVERYTHING matters when it comes to Pain. 02.03.22 – YouTube
Useful Links
Understanding pain videos
Community Resources
A directory of links to useful community resources that may be helpful to those with chronic pain:
Online support:
Pain Concern Pain Concern is a charity working to support and inform people with pain and those who care for them, whether family, friends or healthcare professionals
Reconnect 2 Life – an interactive programme to help you look at your pain and how it affects you. It consists of a number of different modules which can be completed in any order you please.
The Pain Toolkit an information booklet to introduce you to self management strategies for chronic pain
Flippin’ Pain a public health campaign to help change the way we think, talk and treat persistent/ chronic pain (there is also information on current webinars/ educational videos in the Flippin’ Pain information in the ‘courses and information-outside NHS Lothian’ tab)
Helping children to understand chronic pain
Do you know someone whose body always hurts – a guide to helping children understand chronic pain
