New Chronic Pain Treatment Revolutionises Sufferer Therapy Options

Photo Credit: Hamza Butt, 2016 – Pain 

NEWS FEATURE

The Resolve Pain Clinic, based in Caine, Western Australia, has announced that a second pilot study and recent in-clinic testing suggests a new, inexpensive neurological treatment method can actually switch off chronic pain signalling, often in just minutes. This new chronic pain strategy has been found to be useful for a broad range of chronic pain types, from back and neck pain to arthritis pain, and even fibromyalgia.

For more information, visit www.resolvepainclinic.com.au.

The study, conducted by The Lifeworks Group in Western Australia, is the first of its kind and offers a better way to help relieve and even entirely eliminate non-malignant chronic pain, regardless of how severe or how long the patient has suffered. Investigators found that over half the study group was able to reduce pain immediately, with others experiencing varying but significant degrees of relief. In fact, there appears to be very few people who don’t get significant benefit from the treatment. Benefits are not just physical either, the financial cost of treatment is also reduced.

The total economic cost of chronic pain in Australia, during 2016, was over $A55 billion. Cases of chronic pain in Australia alone numbered more than 6 million and ranged from neck, back and arthritis pain. Furthermore, the Journal of Pain estimates the cost of chronic pain in the US is more than $US635 billion annually. Therefore, chronic pain costs more than cancer, heart disease and diabetes to treat. However, the introduction of the Resolve Pain Clinic’s new treatment program hopes to alleviate much of this cost in coming years.

The F2 Chronic Pain Treatment Program

Christine Sutherland, the developer of the F2 chronic pain treatment program, said that even two years after the original pilot study in 2003, participants reported that they were still mostly free of pain and able to go back to their lives.

Ms Sutherland said, “We’re excited to finally unveil this new proven approach and to share our findings, because we’ve known for a long time that very few people are being helped by current methods, and many people give up all hope. Finally, we can offer something that not only works but which works very quickly and quite dramatically for most people.”

“This approach recognises that chronic pain is very different to acute pain and that the pain signals are being generated within the nervous system itself, as a form of conditioning. These conditioned responses, once identified, can now be very rapidly extinguished, and that’s why the results are so extreme and so fast.”

Moving Beyond Traditional Pain Therapies

Sutherland notes that while traditional strategies such as cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (commonly known as “mindfulness”) achieve results, these are no better than placebo, with any effect typically vanishing as soon as the client has left the psychologist’s office.

“What we need to do instead of blaming the patient’s attitude,” said Sutherland, “Is to identify and then eliminate or extinguish the problematic conditioning. This way, the person doesn’t have to try to talk themselves out of their distress over their pain. Instead, we just switch the pain off.”

“What we see in the program is usually a continuation of the ups, downs, and flaring of chronic pain, but with much lower levels of pain, with less frequent and smaller flares, and a definite downward trend in pain. We typically expect to see quite a fast reduction or even complete elimination of the pain, permanently, so the person no longer needs pain medication and can return to their usual role.”

Ms Sutherland said that the new method must only be undertaken under the strict supervision of a qualified healthcare professional, in partnership with the pain team. This approach maintains a safe environment where everyone is fully informed, medication can be properly supervised, and any new symptoms are investigated promptly.

F2 Treatment Not a Magic Cure-all Remedy

However, Sutherland said the program isn’t a magic remedy. “Although it appears to have an extraordinarily high success rate,” Sutherland said, “There is no such thing as 100% effectiveness. There will always be those who do not respond well, particularly when the pain is actually caused by inflammation for example. Such pain is not real chronic pain, but actually acute pain, which utilises very different nerve paths to chronic pain and is really a very different beast altogether. This is why participation in the program is by doctor referral only. Our stringent approach ensures proper diagnosis before admission, and continued communication with the supervising pain team throughout treatment, which including the patient’s referring doctor.”

Ms Sutherland is hopeful that this new approach to the treatment of chronic pain will soon become the “gold standard” so that many more people may be helped instead of being consigned to a life of daily agony.

About the Resolve Pain Clinic

The Resolve Pain Clinic, Situated in Western Australia, investigates, identifies and then extinguishes pain so sufferers can get back to living an active life. The clinic’s mission is to uncover faster more effective therapeutic-based solutions that eliminate pain for chronic sufferers globally.