Provider and Patient Roles
(Workbook Page 13)
The current model of pain care tends to place providers in the active role, performing procedures, giving medications, doing body work, intervening psychologically and recommending ways to cope and manage between treatment sessions. Patients are placed in the role of passive participants during treatment sessions and then often left to their own devices to play a more active role between sessions. Neuroplastic Transformation treatment approaches change this model of care. It remains important for providers to come up with a treatment plan and to use the professional training and skills they have to help people with persistent pain. The change here is that providers also help the patient to move toward the position of leadership in this relationship. To accomplish this the care provider must give patients specific things to try between sessions and follow up on these things when the patient returns for care. From the patient’s perspective, this would mean that the patient needs to take the provider’s ideas and dig into these to see what really works for them. Staying with old approaches, even helpful ones, because of a fear of trying something new must be put aside, as the brain focuses upon novelty. Going beyond ones interests and limits can open up entire vistas of new approaches. Providers have to allow and encourage patients to bring their ideas back to treatment to hone and refine these.
This website has animations and videos keyed to specific sections of the workbook, such as this video. There are also separate animation and video (Pain Bytes) Sections of this website that may be useful. At the end of each section of the workbook we have a page called Neuroplastic Tips. Here we make very specific suggestions related to the section. We recommend that you try these and go beyond your current comfort zone, by trying things within your physical abilities to challenge and delight your brain. We have also worked to provide products that are helpful to make neuroplastic change. These products have been carefully thought out and tested to be useful for many people who live with persistent pain. These are located on the Products section of the Neuroplastix site and we have incorporated neuroplastic education into each of these.