Chronic Myofascial Pain: A Patient-Centered Approach

The magnitude of the problem and consequences for patients. The disease: chronic myofascial pain. Prevailing multidimensional models for clinical understanding of chronic pain syndromes. Clinical and laboratory examination. The illness experience. Women in pain: the meanings of symptoms and illness. Understanding the whole person. Family, work and rehabiliation for women in pain. A painful life: between multiple layers of oppression. The patient-clinician relationship. Difficult patient or difficult relationships: when things go wrong. Empowering the patient by reframing the discourse. Management of the chronic myofascial pain including finding common ground. Medication and injections. Modifying the frame of patient-physician interaction: exemplified by writing an illness diary. Cross disciplinary approaches and physiotherapy. From individual treatment to learning in groups: a group learning program as an example of occupational rehabilitation approaches. Acupuncture and myofascial pain. The art of living with pain: recovery through acknowledgement. The challenges of chronic myofascial pain: commitment to patient perspectives.