Pain Neurophysiology Education as part of a pain management service decreases fear avoidance and improves patients’ understanding of the neurophysiology of chronic pain at four months follow up.

The aim of this service evaluation was to investigate whether the Pain Neurophysiology Education (PNE) service provided at a pain clinic in a northern hospital in the UK increases patients understanding of the neurophysiology of chronic pain and reduces fear avoidance beliefs and pain catastrophising. Data was collected using the Neurophysiology of Pain Questionnaire (NPPQ), the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK) and the Pain Catastrophising Scale (PCS). Patient data (n=18) was collected pre-intervention, post-intervention and at the four month follow up point. The results demonstrated a mean improvement of 22.5% from pre to post intervention on the NPPQ and a maintained improvement of 14% from post to follow up. This result was shown to be statistically significant. There was a mean improvement of 4 points on the TSK which was also shown to be statistically significant. There was a small, but non statistically significant, improvement of 2 points on the PCS. This service evaluation provides some basic evidence that PNE delivered by our physiotherapy team can improve and maintain patients understanding of their pain and start to address some of their negative beliefs associated with complex persistent pain.