The PAIN TOOLKIT WEBSITE - what a great resource!!

A UK based website that is full of excellent resources for people living with persistent pain.
http://www.paintoolkit.org

Love this quote from the website:
"Pete, told me what one health care professional was doing in Yorkshire with the Pain Toolkit. They were handing out the Toolkit to their patient, then asking them to take away and read through it, choose 3 tools and when they came back for their next appointment to tell the health care professional which one's they would like to work on together as a team. I liked that idea and now do it with most of my patients."
(from a Physiotherapist in London, UK)

NEW BOOK RELEASE - The Graded Motor Imagery Handbook

An exciting new resource from the Neuro Orthopaedic Institute (NOI):
http://www.noigroup.com/en/Product/BTGMIB

Finally! A handbook arising from the last 15 years of neuroscience, clinical trials and clinical reasoning science is here for both clinicians and pain sufferers.

Graded Motor Imagery (GMI) offers a novel three stage synaptic exercise process for neuropathic pain involving left/right discrimination, imagined movements and mirror therapy. With patience, persistence and often lots of hard work, GMI gives new hope for treatment outcomes.

David Butler shows how curiosity and learning are critical allies in the search for why you or your patients hurt and he encourages a deep knowledge of the therapy and science behind GMI for the best outcomes.

Lorimer Moseley shares his researcher’s inquisitiveness about the science behind GMI and the neuromatrix: the representation of body parts in our brains and how and why these representations may be affected by injury. GMI aims to alter pain ‘neurotags’ or sensitive networks in the brain. Graded motor imagery is a treatment in its infancy. How do we know if it is appropriate to use? How do we know what’s normal?

Tim Beames invites us on a clinical reasoning exploration through patient-therapist narratives, providing invaluable insights into the progression from left/right discrimination, imagined movements to use of mirrors. The online RecogniseTM programme was developed to assess and restore the Lefts and Rights in your brain.

Tom Giles, the go-to guy for RecogniseTM, provides the ‘nuts and bolts’ of how to get the best out of the online programme, smart phone app and other practical GMI tools.

Authors: Prof. G. Lorimer Moseley, Dr David S. Butler, Timothy B. Beames, Thomas J. Giles.

ISBN: 978-0-9872467-5-2



Pre-order before April 20, 2012 for free shipping worldwide

Hands On Learning for People in Pain and Health Care Providers

Join Pain BC in Burnaby on Saturday May 5th from 1 to 3 pm for a hands-on workshop on self management techniques. The workshop will focus on body awareness, sleep and communication. You'll learn what the research says about why they're important for people in pain and get practical guidance on how to benefit from them. Health care providers - come and learn how to "prescribe" the techniques for your patients.


Facilitated by Neil Pearson, PT, Susan Schellink, OT, and Heather Divine, founder of the People in Pain Network
$15 fee for health care providers.

Location:

Metrotown Hilton Hotel
6083 McKay Avenue
Burnaby, BC

http://g.co/maps/n4s86

Is Chronic Pain a Disease in its Own Right?

If you have been following Pain BC's efforts to categorize Chronic pain as a disease state, then this post will be interesting and timely.
This pain strategy is being mirrored nationally in Australia...


Lorimer Moseley:
"So, while I think the Australian National Pain Strategy is excellent, and while I have the utmost respect for the people driving it and wish to give it my wholehearted support, I don’t think that we are helping to reconceptualise the truly multifactorial, truly biopsychosocial nature of pain, its fundamentally emergent property, the fact that it is a conscious experience, by shifting the culprit tissue from the periphery to the CNS. I do think we should be embracing the contribution to chronic pain of structural and functional changes within our CNS and elsewhere, but to call these pain seems, to me, to be a failure of reasoning."


Read on:
http://bodyinmind.org/is-chronic-pain-a-disease-in-its-own-right/

A Trio of useful iPhone/iPad apps

For those of you with these devices, check these out.
3D Brain is a great way to refine your understanding of the brain and to help your patients learn it too.
Recognise is a treatment/training program that forms part of graded motor imagery rehabilitation.
Nerve Whiz is a great way to learn nerve anatomy.


http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/3d-brain/id331399332?mt=8
Use your touch screen to rotate and zoom around 29 interactive structures. Discover how each brain region functions, what happens when it is injured, and how it is involved in mental illness. Each detailed structure comes with information on functions, disorders, brain damage, case studies, and links to modern research

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/recognise/id470824372?mt=8
Recognise™ is the first way to accurately measure the ability to recognise left and right body parts and movements, and to train left/right discrimination as part of a comprehensive rehabilitation programme. You can learn more about how left/right discrimination forms part of the graded motor imagery rehabilitation process at www.gradedmotorimagery.com


http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nerve-whiz/id380714187?mt=8
Designed by a neuromuscular neurologist at the University of Michigan, Nerve Whiz is a free application for medical professionals interested in learning the complex anatomy of nerve roots, plexuses, and peripheral nerves. Select which muscles are weak, or point to areas of sensory loss, and the application can provide you with distinguishing features and detailed information, complete with relevant pictures and diagrams.

The Neuroscience of magic

This post is interesting...

Writing in Smithsonian magazine, magician Teller (of Penn & Teller) describes the neuroscience that underpins magical illusions, using admirably clear language to describe some of the weirdest ways that our brains can be made to fool us.

"Neuroscientists are novices at deception. Magicians have done controlled testing in human perception for thousands of years."

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Teller-Reveals-His-Secrets.html