Given the slow start of the professions in facing the challenge of pain, it is not surprising that most governments have trailed behind. The largest medical research centre in the world is the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. The size of at least ten medical schools, it contains institutes dedicated to the major [...]

The idea of patient helping patient self-help groups has a long history of community involvement typified by various chronic health problems, e.g., Headway (for head injured persons), Alcoholics Anonymous, GROW etc. A Chronic Pain Association was set up in the state of Victoria in 1978 and is still in existence. Other chronic pain support groups [...]

Many recovered cancer sufferers have taken an active role in the promotion of alternative methods of coping with cancer, and fighting cancer. Such a survivor is the Australian veterinarian Ian Gawler who has become renowned for his work in helping other cancer sufferers through a network of personal and group support, and education into the [...]

Peter, 25, was riding a motorbike and in trying to avoid a head-on collision with an overtaking truck on a country highway, he had fallen off his bike, landed heavily on his right arm and then bounced into a concrete highway marker. ‘It’s burning continuously’, was how Peter had described his paralysed right arm when [...]

Physiotherapy techniques include heat treatment (both dry and moist) and ultrasound therapy. The physiotherapist will also assess posture and function of the musculoskeletal system and prescribe and supervise exercise programs. Gentle manipulation is available through physiotherapists working both outside and inside the pain clinic. Many of the simplest methods of physiotherapy have been used successfully [...]