Course Overview

Domain
Health and Social Sciences
Format
Short Course
Duration
2 days
Fee Subsidy
Up to 90% SF Funding

Health professionals are likely to work with patients who experience pain. A simplistic tissue-based view of pain is not adequate for the best patient care especially when the pain is persistent.

This 2-day workshop will allow participants to explore the role and interaction of neural, immune and endocrine systems on pain and recovery.  

Who Should Attend

  • All health and medical professionals working with people who have pain
  • Health and medical professional educators
  • Other practitioners working with people with pain
Haja Mydin
"Lester’s talk inspired a lot of discussion long into the evening and still ongoing this morning, particularly about managing the challenges of applying some of these concepts. He really helped to reframe some aspects of persistent pain for me, in the context of pain vulnerability and response priming. I'm really excited to learn more during the workshop that he will be holding next year."
Kyle Wild
Clinic Manager & Senior Physiotherapist, UFIT Clinic
Haja Mydin
"Very relevant to clinical practice, topic is not covered even at post-graduate physiotherapy level. Lester was patient in his experience."
Lian Guojie
Principal Physiotherapist, Physio & Sole Clinic
avatar female
"Thought provoking workshop that teaches you to explore the pain dimensions in different ways. Lester was also very encouraging towards participants asking questions and prompts us to think about how we can treat/see patients differently."
Tiang Poh Gek
Senior Physiotherapist, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital

What You Will Learn

  • Topic 1 - Body’s Protection System

The Body’s Protection System is complex and integrated, comprising of neuro-immune-endocrine interactions. Key elements of this system including important cells and mediators of the stress response will be presented.

  • Topic 2 – Neuro-immune-endocrine Plasticity

Plasticity and learning are key features of survival. Our life experiences, particularly early adverse events, can have a lasting impact on health and well-being. This is not only due to plasticity of neural structure and function, but also due to the plasticity in immune and endocrine function. Allostasis and allostatic loads are useful terms to describe how our physiology and behaviour react to stress. Examples will be used to illustrate this.

  • Topic 3 – Stress, Pain and Recovery

The impact of stress during pain and recovery has been apparent for a long time. The role of stressors including social stress on pain and tissue healing will be discussed.

  • Topic 4 – Application in Clinical Practice

Applying the psychoneuroimmunology to clinical practice may be a new concept. The Pain and Movement Reasoning Model will be briefly introduced as a tool to assist clinical reasoning. Simple and novel strategies for identifying physiological signs of stress and innovative interventions that have been shown to assist pain and recovery will be presented. This practical session will require some disrobing and some discomfort (i.e. sensory threshold or tolerance testing). While all participants are encouraged to participate, personal choices will be respected without prejudice.

Upon completion of the course, the participant should be able to:

  • Describe key elements and functions of the neuro-immune-endocrine interactions that preserve the body’s homeostasis
  • Explain using a psycho-neuro-immunological approach, how early life events might make someone more pain vulnerable
  • Appropriately apply the concepts of stress biology to clinical examples
  • Identify equipment that can be used to assess for pain sensitivity
  • Describe the process for testing centrally modulated responses to discomfort
Advanced Preparation 

Teaching Team

Lester Jones
Lester Jones

Senior Lecturer, Health and Social Sciences, Singapore Institute of Technology

View profile

Schedule

    TIME Topic
    9:00 am - 6:00 pm Registration
    Topic 1: Body's Protection System
    Break
    Topic 2: Neuro-immune-endocrine Plasticity
    Lunch
    Topic 3: Stress, Pain and Recovery
    Break
    Topic 3: Stress, Pain and Recovery
    Small group – reflect on application to current practice
    End of Day
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    TIME Topic
    9:00 am - 6:00 pm Review key points from Day 1
    Topic 4: Application in Clinical Practice 
    - Translating research into practice
    Break
    Topic 4: Apply Pain Assessment Strategies
    Lunch
    Topic 4: Apply Pain Assessment Strategies
    Break
    Assessment – small group discussion then presentation
    Summing up
    End of Day
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    Certificate and Assessment

    A Certificate of Participation will be issued to participants who:

    • Attend 75% of the course
    • Undertake and pass non-credit bearing assessment (during course)

    Fee Structure

    The full fee for this course is S$2,398.00.

    Category After SF Funding
    Singapore Citizen (Below 40) S$719.40
    Singapore Citizen (40 & Above) S$279.40
    Singapore PR / LTVP+ Holder S$719.40
    Non-Singapore Citizen S$2,398.00 (No Funding)


    Note: All fees above include GST. GST applies to individuals and Singapore-registered companies.

    Course Runs

    There are no upcoming course runs at the moment.

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