Long-term pain: support and help in Craven
Long-term pain, sometimes called persistent or chronic pain, is pain that lasts for more than 12 weeks. It can have a big impact on everyday life, affecting everything from sleep and movement to how you feel, your relationships and your ability to work.
There isn't always a simple treatment for long-term pain, but there are different ways to get support to understand your pain, manage it day-to-day and reduce its impact on your life.
If you live in Craven, Rethinking Pain offers support for adults living with long-term pain.
What is Rethinking Pain?
Rethinking Pain is a community-based service for adults living with long-term pain in Bradford District and Craven.
Long-term or persistent pain is pain that lasts for more than 12 weeks.
The service looks at the wider impact pain can have on your life, rather than focusing only on medication or medical treatment.
Support can include:
- understanding your pain
- ways to manage pain day-to-day
- one-to-one health coaching and professional support
- support with physical, emotional and social wellbeing
- finding local activities and other community support.
How can I get support?
Your GP or a musculoskeletal service – a service that helps with muscle, joint or bone problems – can refer you to Rethinking Pain.
Once you're referred, the Rethinking Pain team will contact you to talk about your needs and the support that might help.
If you live in Bradford District or Craven, you can also contact the team if you would like to find out more about the service or get advice about managing long-term pain.
Email: info@rethinkingpain.org
Workshops for people living with pain
Rethinking Pain runs workshops to help people understand and manage different aspects of living with long-term pain.
You don't need a referral to attend the workshops. Rethinking Pain recommends attending its Understanding Pain workshop first, as this covers some of the basics that will help you get more from the other sessions.
Workshop topics include:
- understanding and managing pain
- sleep
- keeping active
- emotional wellbeing
- diet
- creative therapies
- setting goals
- managing times when your pain gets worse.
Workshops take place at different locations across Bradford District and Craven, with some support and resources also available online.
Dates change throughout the year, so check the Rethinking Pain timetable for the latest sessions. And then complete the short booking form.
Support group in Settle
If you'd like to meet other people who understand what it's like to live with long-term pain, there is also a local support group in Settle.
The Better Days Support Group meets at The Place in Settle on the first Wednesday of every month at 1pm.
To find out more, please contact The Place in Settle for more information on 01729 824868.
The group gives people an opportunity to meet others, share experiences and get support with managing pain and other health conditions.
Videos and practical resources
Rethinking Pain has free information, videos and practical resources that you can use in your own time.
These cover topics including:
- movement and mobility
- sleep
- keeping active
- emotional wellbeing
- managing times when your pain gets worse
- diet
- setting goals.
There are also practical tools to help you plan what to do when your pain gets worse and think about the support that could help you.
Movement Matters
Rethinking Pain's Movement Matters videos are for people living with long-term pain who want to introduce more movement into everyday life.
The videos include gentle activities covering mobility, balance and stretching, warming up and cooling down, and ways to move more at home.
Information in different languages
Some Rethinking Pain information is available in different languages.
Its Understanding Pain resources include information in English, Urdu and Punjabi/Potwari, including audio versions.
Getting NHS help for long-term pain
If you've been struggling with pain for more than 12 weeks, speak to your GP.
They can talk to you about your pain, how it's affecting your life and what support might be appropriate. This could include advice on managing pain day-to-day and staying active or, where appropriate, referral to other services such as a specialist pain clinic.
