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Breaking the Pain Cycle
When you are suffering from chronic pain, your body is constantly in a state of heightened tension. All of your muscles are contracted which can add to your levels of stress and anxiety, leading to poor quality of sleep, which in turn causes pain to persist. This is known as the pain cycle. Many people living with arthritis are prone to becoming trapped in this cycle, and it can seem at times that there is no way out.
The Breaking the Pain Cycle programme is a single, three-hour workshop that focuses specifically on pain management - one of the components of the more comprehensive Living Well with Arthritis programme. Participants have the chance to learn new information and skills, discuss ideas and share experiences with others that have arthritis.
Like Living Well with Arthritis, this programme is not designed to override treatment provided by health care professionals but rather to complement conventional methods of care.
What makes this course different?
This course is for anyone who is living with a chronic musculoskeletal condition. It is for anyone who is experiencing chronic pain, fatigue and frustration as a result of their condition. It is for people who would like to learn more about managing their condition so that they can continue to enjoy their life.
The workshop is also recommended as a ‘taster’ course for people who would like to get a better understanding of how self-management can help with their arthritis management, before committing to the broader Living Well with Arthritis programme, which explores other aspects of arthritis as well as pain.
The Breaking the Pain Cycle Programme is delivered in a single three-hour session. Each programme usually has 18 people and is led by trained leaders. Most of the leaders have arthritis themselves or are health care professionals. They are all interested in helping people with arthritis, and have successfully completed a 15-18 hour Leader Training Workshop. The programme is available in locations across the country and is designed for anyone over the age of 18. There is a small fee of €10 to participate in the workshop which covers a small portion of the cost of providing the programme.
This workshop will teach you how to deal with the daily challenges that chronic pain presents by:
- Improving your understanding of pain management in arthritis and its treatments
- Introducing different methods to cope with chronic pain
- Encouraging you to take an active role in your pain management
This course is designed to encourage you to take an active role in your pain management and help you to do the things you enjoy doing, with less pain. Previous participants of the Breaking the Pain Cycle programme reported that it had complemented their medication and resulted in:
- Increased knowledge about pain and how to manage it
- Decreased pain
- Increased self-confidence
What makes this course different?
All of the Breaking the Pain Cycle courses are delivered by people who have arthritis and are partnered by a health professional working in the area of arthritis management, such as a rheumatology nurse specialist or a physiotherapist. They therefore understand the challenges presented by a chronic condition such as arthritis.