Pain Management

Our specialist pain management service supports people living with both short-term (acute) and long-term (chronic) pain.

Our pain management team includes doctors, specialist nurses, psychologists, and physiotherapists. They work together to assess and treat people living with acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term) pain.

Chronic pain is pain that doesn’t go away and doesn’t respond well to standard treatments. We help people manage pain caused by surgery, injury, cancer, back problems, and nerve pain. Some common conditions we treat include sciatica and post-herpetic neuralgia, a type of nerve pain that can happen after shingles, some patients are referred by their GP.

Chronic pain is long-term pain that has persisted for more than three months. About 11% of the British population experience chronic pain and it has many different causes. Unlike acute pain, chronic pain does not always indicate progressive tissue damage. Doctors now understand that in some people the nervous system can become over-sensitive as a response to an initial injury.

By the time you are referred to a pain management programme you will probably have seen many doctors and tried many different types of treatment in an attempt to reduce your pain. Despite all the advances in medicine, doctors are not always able to reduce pain completely.

Living with chronic pain

Chronic pain has a major physical impact on people’s lives, but it also has many negative emotional, social and psychological effects. It affects people in personal and domestic tasks, in work and in leisure, and can affect relationships. People in chronic pain often feel depressed, frustrated, worried, sad or helpless because of the pain that they are experiencing. Family and friends may experience many of these feelings too.

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There are different ways we can help manage pain and improve your quality of life. These include:

  • Day case: patients attend morning clinics for injections to control their pain. Treatments include patient controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) for acute pain and nerve injections to block pain.
  • Modular programmes: helps to teach patients to live with pain, including medication changes, acupuncture and relaxation to help patients cope better.
  • Pain physiotherapy: concentrates on therapy assessments, using specific exercises which can help to improve posture and reduce chronic pain.
  • Complementary therapies: such as acupuncture and use of a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) machine that blocks pain messages.  

Pain management programmes

Pain management is a self-management approach in dealing with chronic pain. It involves a number of strategies and techniques that can help you manage your own pain effectively and to feel more in control of it. The pain management approach should not be seen as a ‘treatment’ or ‘cure’ for your pain. Instead it is a way for you to make pain more manageable so that it interferes less with your life and improves the quality of life.

We run structured programmes at Leicester General Hospital, led by a skilled team including physiotherapists, psychologists, occupational therapists, a nurse specialist, and a pain consultant.

Our programmes aim to:

  • Educate you about pain
  • Teach you ways to manage it
  • Help you feel in control of your pain

The courses are for people who live with chronic persistent pain and require a referral from Orthopaedic or Pain consultants. For more information, please call the pain management team on 0116 258 4803.

  • The programmes are held at Leicester General Hospital for one full day (10am-3.30pm) each week for 8 weeks with a follow-up day after 6 weeks
  • You will be in a group of up to 8 people throughout the programme. Any issues you choose to discuss will remain in confidence within the group and the pain management team
  • This is a self-management approach so it is essential that you are committed to attend each day of the programme. You need to be prepared to practise the tasks and the exercises in between programme days so that you get the full benefit of the programme.

After you have been referred to the pain management programme team you will usually be invited to attend an introductory day. These days are held regularly with groups of people. They aim to give you more information about our pain management approach so that you can then decide if you are interested in attending a programme.

If you are interested or considering your options you will be asked to book an assessment with a member of the team. This is where you will have the chance to explain your individual pain history and the types of activities you are able to do on a daily basis. Here we will discuss what you would like to gain from attending a pain management programme and assess your physical abilities. At this stage we will consider with you whether a programme is right for you at this time.

If the team decide it would benefit you to attend a pain management programme you will be placed on a waiting list.

Role of the physiotherapist

People in chronic pain often tend to reduce the amount of physical activity they do as they fear they will do more damage to themselves. However this decrease in activity can actually worsen the situation. The role of the physiotherapist is to guide you through exercises and stretches to help you improve your strength, stamina, flexibility and mobility. The amount of exercise you do will be built up gradually so that you can incorporate it into your everyday life.

Role of the psychologist

The fact that a psychologist is involved does not mean that your pain is unreal or imagined. The psychological input aims to help you understand how pain affects your thoughts, feelings and relationships. We also help you to manage stress by teaching you a variety of relaxation skills. Examples of sessions are managing thoughts and feelings, communication, sleep and maintaining change.

Role of the occupational therapist

The main aim of the occupational therapist is to promote quality of life and satisfaction with activities. We look with you at your daily activities which may include household tasks, hobbies and work. We will support you in balancing your abilities with the demands placed upon you. Examples of sessions include balancing lifestyles, problem solving and goal setting.