This course is available as a standalone CE course or as an elective for our new Advanced Practice Certification.

A lot of the current focus of the pain and opioid epidemic surrounds treatment of people in pain and addicted to opioids. To truly impact pain and the opioid epidemic “upstream” initiatives must be developed and implemented to have “downstream” effects. A physical-therapy-led clinical research team recently developed, tested and started implementing a pain neuroscience education (PNE) program for middle school children in the United States. Pain is a normal human experience and cannot (should not) be prevented, but what someone does when they experience pain truly sets up their trajectory for life. By teaching kids’ healthy beliefs and attitudes about pain early on, it is proposed that “downstream” issues such as taking pain medication, medical visits, school absenteeism, etc., can be positively influenced. Results show that following a PNE lecture students display increased knowledge of pain, healthier beliefs about pain and reduced fear of physical activity when experiencing pain. “Downstream” results show that students exposed to PNE use significantly less pain medication during the school year compared to non-PNE education students. Physical therapy can truly impact pain in the US and this session will showcase the development, content, delivery methods and results of the middle-school PNE program.

Course Outcomes