Advanced Evaluation and Treatment of Complex Pain

At the completion of this course, participants will be able to…

• Correctly and independently explain the difference between actual pain and perceived pain.
• Correctly and independently explain how a pain experience is generated.
• Correctly and independently explain why we cannot depend on imaging alone to guide our clinical judgement.
• State 5 metaphors used to explain pain to patients.
• Correctly identify the stages of behavior change as well as how to guide a person through them.
• Correctly and independently explain both osteoarthritis and disc pathologies and how they relate to each other.

At the completion of this course, participants will be able to…

• Understand the mechanisms of complex pain, including central sensitivity, yellow flags, premotor pain, cortical smudging, impaired motor drive, and carbon dioxide tolerance.
• Evaluate and treat nociplastic pain, including complex regional pain syndrome and fibromyalgia.
• Use graded motor imagery to treat premotor pain and yellow flags.
• Evaluate and treat cortical mapping dysfunctions.
• Understand the mechanisms of breathing and how CO2 intolerance can increase pain, anxiety, and breathing disorders.
• Understand how living sympathetically can impair many body systems, including our pain response.
• Understand how to fix motor drive dysfunctions that do not correct with normal exercise treatment.

2025 state approvals coming soon!