Course 6: Persistent Pain Management Across Diverse Patient Populations: Addressing Unique Needs and Considerations
This course is part of the Persistent Pain Management: A Comprehensive Learning Series. Upon completion of all 6 courses, you will claim your CE credits for the Persistent Pain Management Series.
(Subject to Change.) This course includes the following, select one to complete:
This course focuses on effective persistent pain management strategies tailored to various patient populations, including:
- Pediatric considerations
- Complex patient presentations
- Older adults and lower limb loss
- Psychological factors and movement-evoked pain in tendinopathy
- Injury-related fears and return to play post-ACL reconstruction
- Persistent pain in the emergency department
Learning Objectives:
- Recognize the inter-individual variability in pain presentations and apply this understanding to contextualize the assessment and management of pain considering age, sex, family, and culture.
- Special attention should be paid to pain across the lifespan from the infant to the older adult
- Effects of sex and gender on pain and pain management should be considered
- Critically evaluate and apply reliable and valid pain assessment measures that examine:
- Pain intensity/severity (e.g., Numerical Rating Scale, Visual Analogue Scale, Brief Pain Inventory, Location, Type, including nociceptive, nociplastic, and neuropathic
- Function and Disability/Impairment (e.g., Six-minute Walk Test, Oswestry Disability Index, Örebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire)
- Psychophysical (pain thresholds) or autonomic response measures (e.g., skin conductance)
- Psychological factors (e.g., Pain Catastrophizing Scale, Fear Avoidance Scale, depression, anxiety, Stress Scale, Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire)
- Social domain (e.g., supportive social network, Pain Disability Index)
- Person-centered factors (identified by a thorough clinical interview; e.g., sex, age, culture, beliefs about pain, expectations, coping strategies, impact)
- Vulnerable populations (e.g., communication barriers, cognitive impairment, cultural sensitivities)
- Social factors (e.g., supportive network, participation in life)
- Identify and analyze social, environmental (work/home) and institutional context or factors unique to the person that can impact the assessment of pain.
- Develop and implement a management plan that reflects meaningful shared decision making, including the person and relevant others (such as family, friends, health professionals)
- Undertake shared decision making (with the patient) that is underpinned by sound clinical reasoning and contemporary pain science
- Identify and implement exercise and activity as a key component of physiotherapy/physical therapy management, including across all stages of pain conditions and across the lifespan.
- Identify the indications and evidence for and the proposed mechanisms underlying commonly used interventions, including but not limited to exercise, manual therapy, relaxation strategies (breathing, body scan), mindfulness meditation, and electrotherapeutic agents such as TENS and interferential current, acupuncture, ultrasound, laser, and biofeedback.
- Apply cognitive and behavioral approaches to support improved functional movement and person-centered pain outcomes (e.g., specifically addressing beliefs and fear avoidance or endurance).
Expand your expertise in navigating the unique challenges associated with these diverse groups.
Susan Tupper
Sarah Wenger
PT, DPT
Dr. Wenger is an associate clinical professor at Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions. She received her master of physical therapy degree from Arcadia University in 1997 and her doctor of physical therapy degree from Temple University in 2002. She also is a board-certified clinical specialist in orthopaedic physical therapy. She has published and presented on a range of topics related to her areas of expertise in chronic pain, underserved populations, and clinical reasoning, and she provides pro bono services in a community-based clinic. With an interdisciplinary team, Wenger developed a chronic pain clinical reasoning model and psycho-education program called Power Over Pain.
Emma Beisheim-Ryan
PT, DPT, PhD
Emma Beisheim-Ryan, PT, DPT, PhD, is a physical therapist and musculoskeletal rehabilitation research scientist at the Department of Defense-VA Extremity Trauma and Amputation Center of Excellence. She completed her doctorate degrees at the University of Delaware, where her research focused on improving the evaluation and conservative management of post-amputation pain. She received implementation science training during an advanced geriatrics fellowship at the Eastern Colorado Department of Veterans Affairs prior to transitioning to her current role. Her research interests include incorporating evidence-based interventions into rehabilitative care to improve functional outcomes and limb loss management within the military health system.
Ruth Chimenti
Terese Chmielewski
Keith Roper
Course Instructions
- Click on the Contents tab to watch the course recording.
- Click the Take Quiz button to complete the assessment. Learners will have 3 attempts to pass and must answer at least 70% of questions correctly.
- Click Fill Out Survey under the Evaluation listing to provide valuable course feedback. Scroll down on all questions as there may be answer options that expand past the size of the window.
- Click the View/Print Your Certificate button under the Certificate listing. You can view/print your certificate at any time by visiting the APTA Learning Center and clicking the CEU Certificate/Transcript link on the left-hand side of the page.
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