Chronic pain

What is chronic pain?

Acute pain we all sometimes experience. This pain often has a clear cause, such as an injury or infection. After a period of rest or after treatment of the initial cause, the pain eventually recedes. But, if pain does last longer than three months – after the cause of the pain is gone – you are experiencing chronic pain. This chronic pain gives no advance warning, and there is no longer any relationship with the original injury.

If the pain persists, this can have major implications on your day-to-day functioning. In numerous cases, chronic pain also brings uncertainty with it. You wonder: how should I handle it? We, at Praktijk Brouwersgracht, understand your concerns and can therefore search together with you for a comfortable manner – both physically and mentally – to live with chronic pain.

Therapy

During a first introductory consultation, our exercise therapist examines your chronic condition. “How do you experience the pain?” and “What effect does this have on you?” are the two questions to be handled with care. Then, with your input, a personal plan with concrete goals that are important to you, is set out. This means that for one individual, for example, they can better cope with cycling, whilst for others, they learn to deal with stress. The exercise is not aimed at pain reduction, but on learning skills to cope with the pain.

Through the Chronic Pain Network, we cooperate with rehabilitation specialists, rheumatologists and anesthesiologists from the Pain Clinics operating in hospitals, in and around Amsterdam.