| CODE | PHT4013 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Pain Management | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 04 - Years 4, 5 in Modular UG or PG Cert Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 2 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Physiotherapy | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit will provide an overview of the advances made in pain management through discussing the critical aspects of pain assessment, unravelling the latest concepts in pain theories, while looking at the evidence behind the most commonly used approaches and modalities used in pain management with a special focus on the physiotherapy perspective. Study-Unit Aims: This study-unit is intended to equip the physiotherapy student with the knowledge to effectively assess and manage the patient with pain, especially the chronic pain sufferer, right from the very initial examination. This study-unit will help broaden the students' knowledge of the multidimensional aspects of pain, all of which need to be targeted for effective and long-lasting pain management. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Explain and apply the basic pain science and the biopsychosocial model of pain to person-centred assessment and management of pain; - Explain and evaluate why patients with persistent pain can still have poor outcomes despite using an evidence-based approach to assessment and management and establish what the clinician can do to mitigate this. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Assess and measure the biopsychosocial factors contributing to pain, impairment, and disability using valid and reliable assessment tools while determining potential barriers to effective pain assessment and management; - Design an evidence-based management program in collaboration with the client/patient, directed at modifying pain and encouraging helpful behaviours, promoting tissue healing, improving function, reducing disability, and facilitating recovery; - Implement management that includes patient education, active approaches such as functionally oriented behavioural-movement re-education approaches and exercise, passive approaches such as manual therapy (where indicated and avoiding erroneous and potentially catastrophic rationales such as 鈥渞ealignment,鈥� 鈥渟tabilizing,鈥� 鈥渃orrecting鈥�), and the application of electro-physical agents as indicated; - Assess and manage, via evidence-based methods, patients with chronic pain in various clinical scenarios, including: - Neuropathic pain; - Post-stroke pain; - Complex regional pain syndrome; - Post-amputation pain; - Post-operative pain; - Low back pain and radicular pain; - Pain in the elderly population; - Fibromyalgia, central sensitivity syndrome and the trigger point phenomenon; - Headache disorders. Recommended Reading and References: - Lynch, E., Craig, K. and Peng, P. (2010) Clinical Pain Management: A Practical Guide. Blackwell, London. - Melzack, R. & Wall, P. (2003) Handbook of Pain Management. A Clinical Companion to Wall and Melzack's Textbook of Pain: A clinical Companion to Textbook of Pain. Churchill Livingstone. - Kaye, AD. and Shah, R.V. (2014) Case Studies in Pain Management. Cambridge University Press. - Moseley, G. and Butler, D. (2017) Explain Pain Supercharged. NOI group. - Toth, C. (2013) Neuropathic Pain: Causes, Management and Understanding. Cambridge University Press. - Hsu, ES., Argoff, C., Galluzzi, KE., Leo, RJ., Dubin, A., Loh, J., Lee, C., Evazyan, T. (2013) Problem-Based Pain Management. Cambridge University Press. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Emanuel Schembri |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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