At the beginning of April, our team attended the annual Australian Pain Society Conference at the National Convention Centre. The Conference was joined by a range of speakers from around Australia, and worldwide. The Conference was a jam-packed three days, but by the end, our team finished the Conference with a new mindset of interesting, and intriguing knowledge and information about pain. So, what did our team learn about at the Conference? This is what our team learned about pain.
Adelaide: There is no individual who ever experiences the same type of pain as someone else. I learnt that our childhood experiences, parental experiences, and our intergenerational upbringing can have an influence on the pain we feel.
Carol-Lynn: There is a new online resource called Power Over Pain, which was developed for children and teenagers, who experience ongoing chronic pain, or mental health, to access educational resources to help their pain, such as meditation and mindfulness, but in a relatable way.
Jessica: There is an important biopsychosocial factor when someone is recovering, and that factor specifically involves their relationship with their treatment, and their relationship with others. By having someone support them through their recovery journey, and not feeling alone in this journey, this can have a greater impact on how quickly they can recover.
Jonathan: We know there is so little information about pain that the general public are given. There are misconceptions in society about pain, and what pain is. There needs to be an aim to raise awareness on pain, and to better educate society on pain.
Megan: There is a definite shift in the focus concerning research on pain. In the past, research with a medical model bias was the order of the day. It is exciting to see there has been a definite shift toward treatment options, which take into consideration the biopsychosocial nature of pain. There is an acknowledgement that surgeries and interventions with a biomedical focus are often unhelpful in the treatment of persistent pain. There is a greater emphasis on supporting people towards pain education, having a better understanding of pain, and supporting them towards self-management of persistent pain.
Simbar: Chronic pain is not just the physical manifestation of pain from an injury. Our adverse childhood experiences can contribute to an adult developing chronic pain later in life, and can also impact their brain development. The environmental experiences during our upbringing as a child can influence our genetic development in a positive or negative fashion. Supportive factors such as having positive experiences, a sense of belonging, caring adults, or having a safe environment, have been found to have a protective influence against the development of persistent pain. There is a relationship between pain and insomnia, and insomnia can cause a higher risk of further chronic health issues. One of the purposes of sleep is to remove toxins from the brain, and effectively support cognitive function. Quality of sleep can be affected with persistent pain, resulting in reduced toxin removal and compromised executive functioning.
Our industry is committed to supporting people return to work after a workplace injury. For our team, and for any professional in the industry to do this effectively, we need to consider the person from a biopsychosocial perspective, understanding that there are a number of issues impacting recovery. Pain is often an important part of this journey, and our team’s understanding of these complexities, and the multidimensional nature of pain is ultimately beneficial in optimally supporting our client’s return to work.