GROUND RULES A self management Program for

Chronic Pain

 Commitment to regular attendance




Commitment to set goals
Respect for each other
“DO IT BETTER”
 Agreement to maintain
confidentiality
Do you want to be able to do more?
 Punctuality Do you want to take less medications for pain?
Do you want to feel better?
 Please inform us if your medical
condition changes
 OTHER: Come join and learn how to
do things better
despite pain

Concord Repatriation
General Hospital

Multidisciplinary Pain Clinic

Tel: (02) 9767 7830
 Day of the
Date Time Comments
From the Psychology Perspective week
INTRODUCTION
Psychological factors do not cause
Friday 1 to 4 1st session
The ”Do It Better” is a comprehen- pain but affect how the pain message
sive program focusing on physical is read in the brain. Your emotional
and psychological intervention for state, personality, past learning/ Friday 1 to 4 2nd session
chronic pain. coping style, all influence the pain
message. You will gain a clearer un- Friday 1 to 4 3rd session
This program’s goals are: derstanding of psychological factors
and how these affect your pain. You
 To help improve your physical can learn to alter the pain sensation Friday 1 to 4 4th session
strength for daily activities. and your reaction to pain. It can be
 To help improve your mood. done!+ Wednesday 1 to 4 Team review

 To help you need less drugs.

From the Physical Perspective Friday 1 to 4 5th session
From the medical perspective: Pain makes it hard for the body to
Basic concepts of chronic pain will move. The program will teach you Friday 1 to 4 6th session
be explained and you will under- why it is bad to be inactive. You will
stand why you feel the way you learn to pace your activities so that Friday 1 to 4 7th session
feel. You will learn why medicines you can do more. Your strength will
and surgery alone may not help be improved through a series of grad- Friday 1 to 4 8th session
chronic pain but may sometimes ed gym exercises. You will learn ener-
make pain worse. You can be less gy efficient ways for your body to Friday 1 to 4 9th session
dependent on medications for pain function at a higher level. You can
and make more rational choices in “Do It Better”! Team review
Wednesday 1 to 4
& evaluation
your own management.