New solutions for Pain Management

Georgie Oldfield is a physiotherapist who also runs a training organisation where she trains health professionals and coaches to integrate a mind body approach to pain management.

Georgie was working as a physiotheapist for the NHS in a community-based role. She was working with patients who were suffering from such high levels of pain that they actually unable to get to a clinic. There were not a lot of options available to help these patients and Georgie gradually became interested in alternative ways of managing pain. The results she was getting led her to leave the NHS in 2005 and set up her own clinic.

Shortly afterwards she woke up one morning with sciatica. She had absolutely no idea what had caused it but having just left the security of her NHS role, setting up a new business meant she was dealing with a lot of stress and anxiety. At the time she didn't think this was relevant until she went to see someone who actually asked her what was going on in her life. It was then she realised that she was holding the stress in her body and this was how it was manifesting itself.

So is pain a manifestation of a physiological or emotional problem, a physical one or both? Pain is a protect response, and body pain is perceived by the brain and felt in body. There is no evidence to link the severity of pain we feel with the amount of tissue damage we have so it’s possible to have severe pain but no tissue damage. If the body heals and the pain persists after body has healed you have to ask why. If it’s not anything to do with the extent of the injury, it can be about whether we are anxious, depressed, have negative beliefs about pain or a past trauma.

There are a number of factors that surround how we perceive pain. There are also a lot of different triggers or causes of pain. Anxiety, depression, anticipation or fear of pain can all affect whether we feel severe or less severe pain. Our attitude to pain can also affect the degree of how we feel pain as does our personality and behaviour. It’s not just current stress that can produce pain. Things from earlier on in our lives can affect us too, such as adverse childhood experiences which are also more likely to impact on ill health later in life.

Living with chronic pain often means you become focused on the pain, which then fuels the pain itself. Understanding persistent pain is an empowering experience as sufferers realise pain is within their control.

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information about Georgie here. Our previous podcasts, upcoming guest list and previous blogs are also available.

You can find out more about Georgie and her work at https://www.georgieoldfield.com/ Her book is Chronic Pain : Your key to Recovery