This two-day overview course covers the entire book, “A World of Hurt: A Guide to Classifying Pain” introducing a foundation of information critical to the assessment and treatment of patients with acute, sub-acute, and chronic pain. Utilizing pain science research regarding pain mechanisms, this course teaches pain clinicians how to assess and treat pain as it relates to the peripheral and central nervous system mechanisms. This course presents a sub grouping method, the Pain Mechanism Classification System (PMCS), which addresses musculoskeletal pain throughout the continuum covering chemical, structural, mechanical, cognitive, emotional, social, psychological and cortical mechanisms. The PMCS will guide diagnosis of dominating mechanism and selection of pain science patient education and active care exercise interventions for each mechanism. The PMCS demonstrated through live patient demonstrations (when available), video, and paper case studies will aid application of principles to clinician’s clinical practice. This course integrates pain science research into a biopsychosocial approach, promoting a common language for pain that reduces patient’s disability relative to pain and supports optimal functional recovery and independence. Peripheral nervous system active neurodynamic evaluation, central nervous system sensory and motor evaluation, patient rated outcome measures, and psychometric tools are outlined and discussed to aid diagnosis of dominating mechanisms. The PMCS’s patient education and active care exercise interventions support all patient ages and musculoskeletal and neurological diagnoses suffering pain. Documentation guidelines outlined along with goal setting recommendations included.
*It is highly recommended to take the overview course first*