Therapeutic education

The NOI group, through seminars around the world and publications teach a specialised form of therapeutic education, aimed in particular at people with problematic pain states.

There are a number of therapeutic education styles available in the world, broadly categorised as structural education (knowledge is provided about anatomy and physiology), psychological education (e.g. “The Back Book” and “Manage your Pain”) and in particular for NOI education – a blend with a twist – the neuroscience education style of which “Explain Pain” is the best example.

Explain Pain was written by David Butler and Lorimer Moseley in response to clinical practice and research including a series of studies (Moseley, Hodges et al. 2004) showing that if a person in pain understands the basic biology of why they hurt and are armed with coping strategies to self manage, they will move better, be more functional and have far better moods.

The key is that somehow we need to understand that persistent pains are constructed in the head and if we can understand this we will be better off. Unfortunately many people have been told “it's all in your head” in a derogatory way. Somehow, for chronic pain sufferers "it's in your head" has to be provided in a beneficial way. This blog addresses this huge area. Moseley GL et al 2004 Clinical Journal of Pain 20: 324-330.