Chronic pain includes many types of conditions from a variety of causes. This book is designed to help those suffering from chronic pain learn to better manage pain so they can get on with living a satisfying, fulfilling life. This resource stresses four concepts: each person with chronic pain is unique, and there is no one treatment or approach that is right for everybody; there are many things people with chronic pain can do to feel better and become more active and involved in life; with knowledge and experimentation, each individual is the best judge of which self-management tools and techniques are best for him or her; and, the responsibility for managing chronic pain on a daily basis rests with the individual and no one else. Acknowledging that overcoming chronic pain is a daily challenge, this workbook provides readers with the tools to overcome that test. A Moving Easy Program CD, which offers a set of easy-to-follow exercises that can be performed at home, is also included.

Drawing on input from people with long-term ailments, this book points the way to achieving the best possible life under the circumstances.

Patients with chronic pain present a unique set of challenges to the primary care clinician. In Chronic Pain: A Primary Care Guide to Practical Management, leading pain specialist Dawn A. Marcus, MD, offers practical, clear, and succinct evidence-based approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of the myriad of painful conditions clinicians see in their offices every day, such as headache, back pain, arthritis, fibromyalgia, and abdominal pain. Using an engaging case-based approach, the author simplifies the often complex care of patients with chronic pain by providing practical strategies for targeting important symptoms, establishing realistic treatment goals, and efficiently and effectively managing patients. Clinic-friendly instructional sheets (questionnaires, diaries, and chart documentation tools) can be copied directly from the book and used for both education and the monitoring of therapeutic compliance and response. Importantly, Dr. Marcus offers all of these practical applications in the context of the busy office practice. The author also presents invaluable guidelines for prescribing medications and nonmedicative therapies, and provides descriptions, illustrations, and diagnostic criteria to help identify specific, commonly occurring syndromes that produce chronic pain. Additional features include sections on opioid therapy and on chronic pain in special patient groups such as children and adolescents, pregnant women, and geriatrics. Also included is a value-added compact disk containing a companion ebook version of the book for downloading and use in the reader's computer or PDA, and continuing medical education (CME) questions that provide the opportunity to acquire 5 AMA/PRA category 1 CME credits from the American Society of Contemporary Medicine and Surgery. Comprehensive and case-oriented, Chronic Pain: A Primary Care Guide to Practical Management offers busy health care providers a practice-friendly approach to assessing and managing the often complex and time-consuming problems of chronic pain.

Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Pain has helped over 90,000 individuals manage their pain and strive to live satisfying, fulfilling lives. In the new second edition, the authors have carefully developed and improved every chapter. Packed with useful advice, tips, strategies, and positive reinforcement, the book empowers readers to become their own informed pain self-managers. Each person with chronic pain is unique and the goal of this book is to help each person manage their lives in the way that works best for them. The new edition includes: * An updated and scientifically sound discussion of pain in Chapter 1 that gives readers the information they need to best manage their personal pain. * An updated resources chapter with a useful emphasis on how to find and judge online resources. * New more in-depth coverage of mental health issues related to pain, including depression, anger, fear, guilt, stress, and memory problems. * An all-new chapter, Organizing and Pacing Your Life for Pain Self-Management and Safety that includes thorough, well-illustrated information on using assistive technology. * Completely rewritten exercise chapters with clearer illustrations to help readers build their own exercise program, step-by-step. This chapter also discusses taking advantage of exercise opportunities in the community. * An updated communication chapter to assist readers as they navigate through the health care system, featuring helpful tips on remote communication as well as in-person visits. * Another all-new chapter, Managing Pain During Employment and Unemployment, sensitively addresses the issues connected with experiencing pain in the workplace. * Two completely updated chapters on weight management and nutrition that discuss the relationship between pain and nutrition and reflect current government standards and the most recent research. The Moving Easy Program audio is included with the book on CD or to stream online.

Imagine an orchestra in your brain. It plays all kinds of harmonious melodies, then pain comes along and the different sections of the orchestra are reduced to a few pain tunes. All pain is real. And for many people it is a debilitating part of everyday life. It is now known that understanding more about why things hurt can actually help people to overcome their pain. Recent advances in fields such as neurophysiology, brain imaging, immunology, psychology and cellular biology have provided an explanatory platform from which to explore pain. In everyday language accompanied by quirky illustrations, Explain Pain discusses how pain responses are produced by the brain: how responses to injury from the autonomic motor and immune systems in your body contribute to pain, and why pain can persist after tissues have had plenty of time to heal. Explain Pain aims to give clinicians and people in pain the power to challenge pain and to consider new models for viewing what happens during pain. Once they have learnt about the processes involved they can follow a scientific route to recovery. The Authors: Dr Lorimer Moseley is Professor of Clinical Neurosciences and the Inaugural Chair in Physiotherapy at the University of South Australia, Adelaide, where he leads research groups at Body in Mind as well as with Neuroscience Research Australia in Sydney. Dr David Butler is an international freelance educator, author and director of the Neuro Orthopaedic Institute, based in Adelaide, Australia. Both authors continue to publish and present widely.

Take control of your life, take control of your pain Chronic pain can be extremely debilitating; however, it does not need to dominate your life. This self-help book is based on highly effective self-help methods developed by specialists and used in community and hospital pain management programmes. Your experience of pain can be greatly reduced by pacing daily activities, reducing stress, learning relaxation techniques and effective ways to cope with depression, anxiety, worry, anger and frustration. This easy-to-follow book sets out: - Why pain can persist when there's no injury or disease present - How to become fitter and pace your activities - Practical ways to improve sleep and relaxation - Tips for returning to work, study and gaining a life you value Overcoming self-help guides use clinically proven techniques to treat long-standing and disabling conditions, both psychological and physical. This book is recommended by the national Reading Well scheme for England delivered by The Reading Agency and the Society of Chief Librarians with funding from Arts Council England and Wellcome.