Multidisciplinary pain rehabilitation

Our 'multidisciplinary pain rehabilitation' programme focuses on people who: contend with chronic pain

• do not have prospective surgery or treatments at a pain centre;
• want to improve their overall fitness and functioning.

The programme focuses on the interaction between medical, social and psychological factors. Treatment is primarily aimed at improving patients’ quality of life.

The treatment does not directly target reducing the pain itself. We want to draw the patient’s attention away from the experience of the pain. This makes room for different experiences as well as a forward-thinking persective.

Programme participants will come to our hospital every Monday and Wednesday for eight weeks for an hour of physiotherapy and an hour of occupational therapy or psychological counselling The total treatment entails:

• Sixteen physiotherapy sessions
  (including one relaxation session)
• Eight occupational therapy sessions
• Eight psychological counselling sessions
• One multidisciplinary session, after two months

Physical therapy

When someone has chronic pain, they may begin moving less and less for fear of being in more pain. However, by moving less, your fitness decreases even further, therefore, you are just in more pain. This is how you end up in a negative spiral over the long run.
The goal of Graded Activity is to break this negative spiral. Step by step, your fitness will be restored through an individual exercise programme. You start off at a level that is achievable for you, and continue building from there. Through this approach, we want to give you control over your daily exercise pattern.

Psychological aspects

We also focus on your quality of life, focusing on the things that still work. Themes such as load and load capacity, acceptance, social skills, coping with stress, brooding and sleep are covered.

Occupational Therapy

Our occupational therapist provides advice to help you function better in your daily activities at home, at work and in your social life. The occupational therapist may make recommendations about the use of aids, if necessary. Striking a better balance between activities that demand energy and those that provide energy is another way to focus on improving your quality of life.

Patients eligible for the programme can be referred by their attending physician to an information session about the rehabilitation programme.

If, after the information session, you are interested in joining the programme, you will have an intake meeting with the psychologist. This includes checking whether the participant's expectations match the objectives of the rehabilitation programme.

Zipo Buys

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Ilse Viane

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Jo Janssens

Telephone: +32 (0)9 246 99 05

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Ghent - Occupational therapy

Physical Therapy

Physiotherapy

Psychology

Latest publication date: 27/12/2023