Patients with long-term pain urged to take control

Physiotherapists and pain management experts from Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have collaborated with other healthcare professionals to produce The Pain Management Plan, a new booklet and CD to provide information on self management of persistent pain.

Physiotherapist and plan collaborator Tracy Sanderson said: "We know that in the Yorkshire region one in seven people suffer from long-term pain. This can be incredibly debilitating for those patients who have to tolerate pain and discomfort day in, day out.

"This new programme aims to help patients take control of their lives through structured physiotherapy sessions and helps them see that they can manage the pain, rather than the pain managing them.

"Our aim is to give patients important advice into how they can exercise in a paced way, set achievable goals and manage mood changes and other difficulties associated with these long-term health conditions. We want to stop them losing their health and fitness by encouraging self management from an earlier stage in their journey with pain."

The new plan is being rolled out across the district's physiotherapy departments at Bradford Royal Infirmary, St Luke's Hospital, Shipley Hospital, Eccleshill Community Hospital and various GP surgeries across Bradford this week.

Ms Sanderson said: "It's our hope that The Pain Management Plan will prevent people from becoming disabled by their pain and losing what little good health they have."

The plan has been developed along the lines of the successful "Heart Plan", a similar self management programme for people with heart conditions.