[fern]

This book was recommended to me by PT.
Has anyone else read it or seen anything else from the NOI group in Australia? It's expensive to order a single copy and I wanted some insight in case someone on the forum is familiar with the group or authors.

http://www.noigroup.com/Product.php?...iable&Variable[ProductCodeID]=EPB

here's an interesting page.

http://noi.strategyonline.com/docume...pages72-73.pdf

"All pain is real, and for many people it is a debilitating part of everyday life. It is now known that understanding more about why things hurt can actually help people to understand their pain. Recent advances in fields such as neurophysiology, brain imaging, immunology, psychology and cellular biology have provided an explanatory platform from which to explore pain. In everyday language accompanied by quirky illustrations, Explain Pain discusses how pain responses are produced by the brain: how responses to injury from the autonomic motor and immune systems in your body contribute to pain, and why pain can persist after tissues have had plenty of time to heal."

[lisa_tos]

I have read the book. It's a very clear explaination of how your central nervous system changes in response to chronic pain. It really only covers the part of the pain that is not related to ongoing reinjury, the part called central nervous system hyperexcitbility. However that part is a significant part of any chronic pain injury and it is very helpful to understand it. The authors have shown with FMRI that understanding this part can reduce activity in one part of your brain related to pain.

It's aimed at people who have no background in the revalent sciences, and does a good job. If you have enough of a science background to read medical books and journals, there are other resources I prefer for the material to this book, but I think it's excellent for the intended readership.

The authors are well known pain reseachers. Peter Edgelow, a well known TOS PT, trained with them.

[fern]

re: "there are other resources I prefer for the material to this book"
can you recommend any of those other sources that we can read. I had the sense that the NOI materials are very new. And whether or not it's too simplistic to order the book from Austrailia is about $80-90
Thanks

[tshadow]

Sometimes people post or PM me, "is there any work you can do with your TOS?"

I take it as a compliment, that they mean I still have something to give. But how can I do ANYTHING when most of the time I'm in such high pain?

I think most people haven't really "gotten" how (my) pain works - it isn't on a schedule, in fact, I can't be dependable for ANYTHING, not even a phone call once a week. (Half of my weekly phone call therapy was to reschedule the call...) I can't do this support board for more than a few minutes - then I have to take a break on the couch. Sometimes, my pain is so high, I can't tolerate even looking at the forum. Almost all of the time, my pain is too high to tolerate a phone conversation. I don't enjoy food anymore - and seldom is there anything that truly distracts me from the pain. Do I laugh? Sure, but there are also plenty of times when I can't talk, because of the pain...like I used to say, I need a Tshirt that says:

"I am in high pain. Don't take it personally."

And the pain is totally debilitating most of the time for me. It is so high, so strong, so pervasive that it is all I can do to lay on the bed and keep from crying, screaming, moaning or complaining...

Since '02, none of my pain meds has ever relieved the pain completely, or even 50%. And that's with the strongest drugs available. Even in the ER.

I can't even remember what it was like not to have this pain, anymore.

And whether it's my mom, doctor or friends or family or old coworkers, no one except other TOSers and my fiance ever have understood how bad this pain has been.

Just fyi.

[lisa_tos]

Originally Posted by fern

re: "there are other resources I prefer for the material to this book"
can you recommend any of those other sources that we can read. I had the sense that the NOI materials are very new. And whether or not it's too simplistic to order the book from Austrailia is about $80-90
Thanks

I'll try to get more references later but here is one I especially like:
lay Show
All: 1 Review: 1
Click to change filter selection through MyNCBI.

1: Pain Res Manag. 2002 Summer;7(2):81-92.Links

Comment in:
Pain Res Manag. 2002 Winter;7(4):212.
Pain Res Manag. 2002 Winter;7(4):212; author reply 212.

Central hyperexcitability in chronic musculoskeletal pain: a conceptual breakthrough with multiple clinical implications.
Lidbeck J.

Pain Management Clinic, Hospital of Helsingborg, Helsingborg, Sweden. jan.lidbeck@helsingborgslasarett.se

Recent investigations of dysfunctional pain processing in the central nervous system have contributed much knowledge about the development of chronic musculoskeletal pain. Many common chronic musculoskeletal pain syndromes - including regional myofascial pain syndromes, whiplash pain syndromes, refractory work-related neck-shoulder pain, certain types of chronic low back pain, fibromyalgia and others - may essentially be explained by abnormalities in central pain modulation. The growing awareness of dysfunctional central pain modulation may be a conceptual breakthrough leading to a better understanding of common chronic pain disorders. A new paradigm will have multiple clinical implications, including re-evaluation of clinical practice routines and rehabilitation methods, and will focus on controversial issues of medicolegal concern. The concept of dysfunctional central pain processing will also necessitate a mechanism-based classification of pain for the selection of individual treatment and rehabilitation programs for subgroups of patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain due to different pathophysiological mechanisms.

PMID: 12185372 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

You can get it if you have a good university library nearby. Otherwise you can download it from the publisher's site but
it's somewhat expensive ($20, I think)

http://www.pulsus.com/journals/toc.j...Ky=7&isuKy=543