Online Certification Course in Modern Chronic Pain Rehabilitation

In clinical practice, it’s common that some patients fail to improve or make progress even with the best treatment. In this section we explore how pain expectations (e.g. placebos and nocebos) influence pain symptoms. We will then show how to integrate these concepts into clinical practice to enhance patient outcomes.

Many healthcare professionals acknowledge the role of pain related fear, but don't feel equipped to help patients overcome these fears. In this section you will learn new discoveries about pain related fear AND practical tools to help patients re-engage in meaningful physical activity.

In this section of the we will explore the role of relationships in development and treatment of persistent pain. We will discuss early life experiences, social rejection, parent-child, partner , and patient - provider relationships. We will includes strategies for addressing these relationships as part of a pain rehabilitation treatment plan.

In this section of the course we will take a deep dive into the topic of body awareness and embodiment. We will explore mindful movement, meditation, and breath-work (pranayama). We'll focus on practical strategies for teaching pain specific techniques to patients, and address the common challenges in teaching "mind-body" techniques in the clinic.

Exercise is the gold standard for chronic pain, yet it seems to make many patients feel worse. In this section of the course, we will explore the physiology underlying exercise induced pain, and strategies to make exercise more comfortable for patients. We will also learn an entirely new framework for exercise that utilizes therapeutic movement from a non-biomechanical pain science perspective.

This section of the course takes a step away from the clinic to dive deeper into pain science concepts such as sensitization / habituation, pain vulnerability, maladaptive plasticity, and new perspectives on the neurobiology of the conscious lived experience of pain.

This section will explore the science of touch based therapies such as massage and manipulation.  We will present practical strategies for integrating these treatments into patient care without reinforcing harmful beliefs or unhealthy reliance on passive treatment. We will also explore pain science concepts that open up new doors for creative application of these therapies.

In this section, we will explore the role of stress (including PTSD) in the development and treatment of persistent. We will learn novel strategies for enhancing stress resiliency that can be integrated into a pain rehabilitation program

In this section, we will explore the role of sleep in the development and treatment of persistent pain. We will also cover strategies for sleep enhancement that can be used by clinicians.

At the conclusion of the course, students should be able to:

‍Neurobiology:
- List several key physiological processes that are involved in acute and chronic pain perception
- Describe changes that occur throughout the nervous system during the transition from acute to chronic pain

‍Expectations & Emotions:
- Analyze patient statements to identify the presence of expectations and emotions, and integrate these perspectives into the treatment plan

‍Body Awareness & Mindful Movement
- Understand principles of interoception and body awareness
- Construct a chronic pain rehabilitation program incorporating mindful movement and stress reduction techniques based on these foundations

‍Sleep 
- Classify common sleep problems and recognize the relationship between sleep function and fluctuations in pain
- Provide practical sleep-improvement strategies in clinical sessions

‍Pain & Exercise
- Understand the underlying physiology that is responsible for patient complaints of pain during exercise
- Apply exercise therapy within a biopsychosocial framework to target fear, self-efficacy, pacing, health promotion and sensory desensitization
- Recommend strategies to reduce and manage post-exercise flare-ups

‍Social Function
- Apply a “return to living” approach to chronic pain, recognizing the role of social function in pain management - such as social isolation, communication about pain, family involvement - and the importance of the therapeutic alliance

‍Manual Therapy
- Incorporate the science of somatosensation to adapt manual therapy techniques to patients with hypersensitivity to touch, while facilitating active patient involvement and empowerment for self-care

The online course is designed to be completed gradually over a period of 4 months. There are 16 weekly lessons, and each lesson has an average time to complete of 2.5 hours. The cost is $650 USD.

Students can schedule a 1 hour (or 2 half hour) phone or video conference sessions with the instructor. These sessions are available during working hours (European time zone).

Most of the content will remain available to you after the course ends.

We do not offer a free trial, but we do have a satisfaction guarantee with a no-questions-asked full refund policy. Requests for refund must be made within the first 14 days of starting the course

After you finish the coursework you will take a comprehensive quiz. Upon successful completion, you will be awarded a Certification in Principles of Biopsychosocial Chronic Pain Rehabilitation.

While it is very helpful to stay with the pace of the course, you can slow down if you need to for any reason.

Not exactly. While much of the content could be "consumed" in a few weekends, the goal of the course is to enhance clinical practice. It takes time to think through and practice applying the concepts with your patients or clients. As such, the course is deliberately paced over a longer period of time.

The lesson materials are a mix of several multimedia formats including text, images, slides, and video.

Feel free to email the instructor at Elan@RetrainPain.com with any questions.