A positive turn out for the latest UCOL Public Lecture Series saw insightful discussion around the brain and its role in pain.
Australian Lightning Process Practitioner, Ian Cleary, whose work over the past 12 years has been focused on Chronic Fatigue and pain conditions, made the trip to Palmerston North to give a lecture on The Pain Revolution. In his lecture, Ian explored how a better understanding the brain's role in pain is changing how medical science views and treats many conditions.
The event saw the attendance of local students studying health sciences from both UCOL and Massey University along with industry professionals from tertiary lecturers to doctors at the DHB. It was an evening of revolutionary discussion around the protective nature of pain, which draws from the 'Explain Pain' model from Professor Lorimer Moseley and Associate Professor David Butler of the Neuro Orthopaedic Institute. Ian was enthusiastic about the response from the community to the event.
"It's always wonderful to see people ready to embrace these concepts as it opens up treatment options for many people who are feeling really stuck in pain."
Executive Dean Health and Science at UCOL, Penny O'Leary, was very positive about the event and the new-line of thinking it inspired.
"Ian's presentation provided us with an opportunity to think differently and then act differently when experiencing chronic pain. My take home message was the importance of exercise whilst experiencing chronic pain; 'Motion is lotion', 'retrain the brain that exercise is safe'. Traditional models of practice around pain management can be challenged by starting with how we think about pain, and the importance of taking charge of our emotional state, posture, language, and accepting that our biggest threat is no exercise."
This was the third event for the year in the polytechnic's Public Lecture Series, with more in the coming months across the Manawatū, Wairarapa and Whanganui campuses.
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