Integrative Treatment for Patients Experiencing Chronic Pain

Course overview

The National Pain Strategy (2016) describes chronic pain as a disease affecting more than a third of our population. Participation in this course will prepare rehabilitation professionals to meet the needs of the rising tide of Boomers surging into our health care system suffering with chronic pain and multiple NCDs (non-communicable diseases). Hippocrates sagely advised it is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than what sort of disease a person has. While health professionals are well educated in explaining the neuroscience of pain and mitigating deconditioning in this patient population, it appears we are ill equipped to directly address how we (patients and practitioners) embody suffering. In this course, the rehabilitation professional will apply Hippocrates advice to enhance our biopsychosocial-spiritual patient interviews, and integrate simple evidence-informed tools from yoga and other contemplative practices to improve our therapeutic presence and help patients identify and relieve suffering. This metacognitive course will rejuvenate the practitioner and inspire truly patient-centered care for the older adult experiencing chronic pain.