Chronic pain management

Pain is chronic when it carries on for longer than 12 weeks despite medication or treatment. After an injury or operation, pain usually goes away after a few weeks. But sometimes, the pain carries on for longer and may come on without an injury or operation. 

As well as the physical effect, chronic pain can influence a person’s wellbeing in many different ways. 

These can include: 

• Reduced activity
• Fear of certain activities
• Stress and worries about the future
• Low mood
• Isolation and relationship difficulties
• Sleep and work problems. 

We’re a team of health professionals who specialise in chronic pain, including: 

• A pain psychologist
• A pain physiotherapist
• An assistant psychologist.

The team works very closely with other health professionals, like:

• Musculoskeletal (MSK) physiotherapists
• GPs
• Pain consultants. 

When you're referred by an MSK physiotherapist, we’ll invite you to a one-off introduction session.

At this meeting we'll explain how the CPMS works and what you can expect from us in terms of support. After that, should you agree, you’ll be invited to attend our multidisciplinary team (MDT) assessment. We’ll ask you about your pain and how it affects your overall quality of life. 

We’ll then decide together what’s your best option, based on your specific needs and goals.

There’s a range of ways in which we can help, including:  

• A pain management programme, which is a group programme combining psychology and physiotherapy
• An online pain management programme if you can’t attend in person
• One to one sessions with our psychologist and/or physiotherapist, and sometimes, joint psychology/physiotherapy sessions, based on your needs. 

At the end of your treatment, you'll get a personal care programme, specific to you, to take home. This is your plan for moving forward. Some follow-up appointments may be scheduled in the future as well.

Although the pain won’t go away completely, because you cope with it better, it should trouble you less. 

As you will already know, coping with pain isn’t easy and there aren’t any quick fixes. But if you follow the CPMS approach, you should find it gets easier. 

We can recommend these self-help resources, which you  may find helpful. 

The pain toolkit 
This website offers lots of resources to help you.

Pain Concern 
This charity has a helpline and forum so you can talk to other people.

Referrals are accepted from:

• Community clinical psychology service
• Ealing Increasing Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) Service
• MSK services.