Nerve Pain in Practice

Treating Nerve Pain

Nerve pain and sensitivity can present in many ways in practice and the symptoms vary widely; from tingling, itching, burning, stinging, feeling tight, swollen, bigger or odd, sharp shooting, deep nagging ache, ants crawling and everything in between.

Nerve pain triggers are often complex and multifactorial, and neural tissue involvement can be subtle in the early days, often mimicking or co-existing with simple mechanical pain. As primary healthcare practitioners, it is important to recognize and manage any neural component to your patients’ pain early to support their recovery and help prevent ongoing pain and disability.

In Nerve Pain in Practice Liz Howard has translated a vast body of research into an evidence-informed osteopathic approach to assessing and treating the neuro-endocrine-immune system. She utilises the current evidence from pain science, fascial research, neurodynamics and clinical trials to support traditional osteopathic treatment models.

Apply your palpation skills and manual therapy techniques for fascia (connective tissue) to the peripheral nervous system. Liz will guide you in this rewarding area of practice via efficient, ergonomic, and safe techniques in young, older and the most sensitive and fragile patients.

The course will feature pre-learning videos and face-to-face learning to cover;

• Early symptoms,
• Developmental and other risk factors,
• How to assess and effectively manage nerve pain,
• Osteopathic manual therapy techniques,
• Treatment planning,
• Self-management,
• Brief overview of conservative and interventional options for treating nerve pain

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to

• Briefly describe the current understanding of pain, neuroinflammation, peripheral and central sensitization, and how this can change during recovery
• Integrate targeted questions for neural sensitivity/pain and contributors including biopsychosocial, biomedical and developmental influences into your current history taking
• Use validated tools and tests for assessing the neuroimmune system in practice and know when to refer
• Apply the principles of neurodynamics to testing and treating the neuroimmune system eg. nerve tension testing, nerve sliders and gliders
• Discuss the conservative treatment options for nerve pain and sensitivity with your patient including medications (oral, topical), manual therapy, acupuncture, TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation)
• Confidently treat peripheral nerve symptoms with indirect techniques
• Discuss the interventional treatment options for nerve pain and sensitivity with your patient including injections, pulsed radio frequency, neuromodulation and other surgical approaches
• Formulate a recovery plan with your patient to achieve their goals including education, self-management and desensitization
• Understand when to refer and to whom

Course Details

The Nerve Pain in Practice course is suitable for therapists with no experience with indirect techniques required. It includes practical examination and treatment protocols for treating nerve pain that you will be able to use with confidence in your clinical practice.

The course will run from 8:30AM to 4PM. Places are limited to 20 attendees. It includes morning and afternoon tea, printed course notes and an e-certificate of attendance for your CPD records. The course can be counted as 7 hours CPD and will include around 1.5 hours of pre-learning videos.

About the Presenter

Liz Howard (Advanced Pain Management Osteopath) has many years of treating nerve pain in the pelvis and in general practice (peripheral nerve pain), providing her with unique clinical experience through the lens of the latest pain science.

Liz practices at the Women's Health & Research Institute of Australia, a specialist pelvic pain clinic in Sydney. She holds a Master of Science in Medicine (Pain Management) from USYD in 2013 and has over 25 years’ of experience as an osteopath, including pain education and as a clinical specialist in sacral neuromodulation.

Liz has more than 16 years’ of experience teaching at Australian universities and as a CPD provider. Her teaching experience ranges from course writing, presenting lectures and practicum in Undergraduate and Master’s Osteopathic programs (University of Western Sydney, Southern Cross University), clinical supervision of Osteopathic students (UWS, SCU, SportsMed Mumbai), to presentations at many professional associations including RANZCOG (Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Obstetrics & Gynaecology), AGES (Australasian Gynaecological Endoscopy & Surgery), NSANZ (Neuromodulation Society of Australia and New Zealand), Osteopathy Australia National Conference presentation, Pregnancy Massage Australia, Pelvic Floor Seminars, GP education evenings and international allied health events, most recently in Ireland, Sweden and New Zealand.

Find out more about Liz Howard's experience treating nerve pain here.