Pain rehabilitation vs. pain management

There is a difference.
 
Pain management relies on a passive approach to reduce pain - typically service or product-driven by providers.
 
Pain rehabilitation teaches skills to actively self-manage pain, increase functional ability, and improve quality of life while living with chronic pain. It puts you in control. Not the pain. And not the treatments or the providers you see.
 
My chronic pain journey changed when I stopped focusing on the pain and fighting to reduce it.
 
I was fortunate to attend the Mayo Clinic Pain Rehabilitation Center. It helped empower me to take control of the pain and my life.
 
Below is an overview of the program from the Mayo Clinic website.
 
"Mayo Clinic's Pain Rehabilitation Center (PRC) helps people with chronic pain return to a more active lifestyle. Teams based at Mayo Clinic's campuses in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota use a rehabilitation approach that incorporates behavioral, physical and occupational therapies to help restore physical activities and improve quality of life. The program also helps participants eliminate the use of pain medications and decrease the use of other medications that can impact health and quality of life in the long run.”
 
Note that there is no mention of pain reduction in the overview.
 
Learn more

• Not all Pain Management Facilities are the Same (my blog post)
• Pain Rehabilitation Works (my blog post)
• How to Move Patients from Passive Management to Active Self-Management (my article for providers)
• 7 Things You Need to Know About Pain Rehabilitation
• My Time at the Mayo Clinic Pain Rehabilitation Center - published in HealthCentral
• Find pain rehabilitation programs around the globe (my website)