Educating patients, and their families or carers about chronic pain

Take time to educate patients, families and carers about chronic pain, evidence-based management strategies and reliable information sources. It is helpful to introduce the patient to neurobiology concepts and explain the pain system in simple terms, such as having the ‘volume knob turned up’. Explaining the efficacy of and evidence for various treatments may give the patient an understanding of why particular strategies are used or not.

Patient resources aim to educate people about chronic pain concepts, the limitations of long-term drug therapy and the important role of self-management and a multidimensional approach for chronic pain. Recommended resources for the patient, and their family and friends include:

• PainBytes—for adolescents, parents and teachers
• Brainman videos—available in multiple languages
• PainHEALTH
• Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI) Pain Management Network
• NPS MedicineWise.

Explaining the placebo effect can help patients to understand the influence of their expectations, thoughts or beliefs on the pain experience. Encourage the patient to be mindful of this effect when evaluating therapies, particularly costly therapies because they may not provide long-term benefit.

It is important to set treatment goals alongside providing education because education alone is often insufficient to achieve the physical, psychological or social behavioural changes required to achieve functional improvement.