VALENCIA, 5 September 2019 – Patients can experience amazing reductions in pain simply by understanding how pain actually works and how their body and brain can be changed, delegates at the European Pain Federation’s biennial Congress in Valencia, Spain, will be told this week. Physiotherapist and pain scientist Professor Lorimer Moseley will tell the 3,500 delegates at EFIC’s Congress that decades of discovery have turned the medical profession’s idea of how pain works completely upside down.
Professor Moseley said: “We now know that our pain system is highly influenced by many factors, not just signals from the body. We also know that our pain system is highly dynamic, which means it changes its sensitivity from moment to moment and year to year. And we know that persisting pain is associated with a potentially massive shift in sensitivity.” He continued: “These realities make it very difficult to treat persistent pain as though it is caused by a single message or cause. Treating persistent pain like an overprotective pain system is potentially very helpful. The most important determinant of success, however, is whether or not someone understands modern pain science: when people learn how pain actually works and how the body and brain can be changed, truly excellent outcomes are possible.” Professor Moseley will propose that modern pain science education should impart this learning to healthcare practitioners – so that they can, in turn, pass this knowledge to their patients who will reap the benefits.
Other highlights at the EFIC Congress include presentations on the latest advances in neurostimulation; the relation between gender and migraines; how pain is experienced differently between different age-groups; how the evolution of digital healthcare will impact pain treatment; and whether there is ‘an opioid crisis’ in Europe. The Congress, between 4-7 September, is the largest scientific congress on pain in 2019, bringing together 3,500 delegates including the most recognised experts in the field of pain medicine to exchange knowledge, ideas and the latest advances in the field.
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For more information, contact: Vittoria Carraro (vittoria.carraro@efic.org) or Sam Kynman (sam.kynman@efic.org). To interview Professor Lorimer Moseley, contact Dennis Landsbert-Noon (dln@panda-communications.com).
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
The European Pain Federation (EFIC) is a multidisciplinary professional organisation in the field of pain research and medicine. Established in 1993, EFIC constituent chapters represent Pain Societies from 37 European countries and close to 20,000 physicians, basic researchers, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists and other healthcare professionals across Europe, who are involved in pain management and pain research.
