Airing Pain 1: Introduction to Pain

What is chronic pain and how can we manage it? We talk to health professionals and patients to find out more

In the first Airing Pain programme we introduce the subject of pain and its management, featuring contributors with a variety of expertise and experience. Professors Blair Smith and Richard Langford take us through the causes of chronic pain and conditions associated with it, while Sherrill Snelgrove and Kiera Jones talk about the challenges faced by patients in being understood by the healthcare professions. Dr Beverly Collett explains the importance of the patients’ own understanding in managing their condition and keeping active.

We also feature short interviews with some of the experts we’ll hear more from in later programmes: Professor David Walsh discusses the importance of multidisciplinary approaches in helping patients to manage their pain, Professor Nick Alcott and Claire Rayner encourage older people to get help with their pain and Nicole Tang talks about how people with pain can improve their sleep, and finally, Pete Moore gives some words of encouragement based on his own experience of learning to live well with pain.

Issues covered in this programme include: Ache, arthritis, back pain, communication, compassion, describing/explaining pain, health professionals, injury, insomnia, isolation, limbs, measuring pain, misconceptions, multidisciplinary, musculoskeletal, neck pain, neuropathic pain, no visible cause, old age, patients, peer support, primary care, programmes, secondary care and therapy.

Contributors:

• Dr Beverly Collett, Introduction to Pain
• Dr Sherrill Snelgrove, Chronic Lower Back Pain
• Kiera Jones, Personal Story
• Dr David Laird, Pacing
• Dr Steve Allen, Pain Clinics
• Claire Rayner, Patron of Pain Concern, Nursing and Pain/Patron’s Voice
• Professor Blair Smith, “What is Pain?”
• Professor Richard Langford, The British Pain Society
• Professor David Walsh, Arthritis Related Pain
• Ian Semmons (Chair, Action on Pain), Action on Pain
• Professor Nick Allcock, Pain in Older People
• Dr Nicole Tang, Sleep and Pain
• Pete Moore, Living with Pain.