Classes

About a week ago I put up a pain questionnaire.  


As promised, we're providing the answers, courtesy of Zac Cupples, PT.

Zac 
Cupples, a physical therapist in Plainfield, IL, had such great answers to these 
questions that I asked him if I could borrow them and he agreed. A few sentences were edited out for brevity and to keep it where we non-PT folks can understand. Read his unedited answers and the rest of his article on pain education here. Also highly recommended is his series on the book Explain Pain. If you haven't read it, this is a great chapter-by-chapter summary. If you have, it's a great review.

Thanks, Zac! 

And now for the answers:

“The best way to treat chronic pain is to prevent it.”

Pain receptors convey the pain message to your brain: FALSE

How well do you understand how pain works? Answer these questions and find out. We'll publish the answers after the pain education class this Saturday.

Pain Neuroscience Questionnaire

True or False?

1 When part of your body is injured, special pain receptors convey the pain message to your brain.

2 Pain only occurs when you are injured.

3 The timing and intensity of pain matches the timing and number of signals in danger messages.

4 Nerves have to connect a body part to the brain in order for that part to be in pain.

5 In chronic pain, the central nervous system becomes more sensitive to danger messages from tissues.

6 The body tells the brain when it is in pain.

7 The brain can send messages down your spinal cord that can increase the danger messages going up the spinal cord.

8 Nerves can adapt by increasing their resting level of excitement.

9 Chronic pain means an injury hasn’t healed properly.

10 Receptors on nerves work by opening ion channels (sensors) in the wall of the nerve

Chronic pain is epidemic. It is estimated that 25% of American adults live with chronic pain and the costs in terms of medical expense and lost productivity run into billions of dollars every year. It is impossible to calculate the cost in terms effect on the quality of so many people's lives. 

We are excited to be offering a two hour pain education class at Forest Park Community College on Saturday, April 12, 2014. The class, Explaining Pain: Help Manage Chronic Pain, is for anyone who lives with chronic pain, anyone who lives or works with individuals with chronic pain, or anyone who wants to better understand chronic pain. Professionals, non-professionals, people with pain or people without pain are all welcome.

This two hour lecture will introduce you to what modern pain science has learned about chronic pain and ways that may help you manage it more effectively. The class will be based on the book Explain Pain by Butler and Moseley. 

Dates for the Massage for Couples classes at Forest Park Community College have been set for the first two semesters of 2013. For details about the classes, go here.

Dates for the Fall/Winter semester will be set later in the year.

If you'd like to stay informed of when classes will be held and when registration is open, send me an email at Alice@massage-stlouis.com and ask to be put on my email list. You'll get occasional emails about promotions and articles of interest, too, but I promise I won't spam you.

Have you ever wanted to do massage at home with your partner but didn't know where to start? Do you try doing massage but get tired quickly? Are you wondering how to please your partner, who keeps asking for "harder," without hurting yourself? If so, you need to take one of the Massage for Couples classes I'll be teaching at Forest Park Community College on Saturday, June 9 or Saturday, July 14, 2012.

This class is ideal for couples, athletes, dancers, performing artists, and anyone else who would like to learn simple massage techniques they can use at home.

I have just received notice that the Oct. 1 Massage for Couples class is now full. This class is getting quite popular! My apologies to those who are unable to get into the class. The size of the room and my desire to give individual attention to participants limits the number of couples we can have in the class.

Dates have not been set for the next class but it is usually offered in February. If you'd like to stay informed about when registration will open for the next class, check your St. Louis Community College catalog when it arrives in the mail (we're listed under Health and Wellness in the Personal Interest section) or "like" Massage St. Louis on FaceBook, where we usually post an announcement when registration opens.

This class is offered once or twice a semester, depending on my schedule. You can also arrange for private instruction. Give me a call (314-670-0650) or email (Alice@massage-stlouis.com) and you can arrange for your own personal "class."