Through ‘Friends of the Elkerliek’, the pain team of the Elkerliek hospital has been given the opportunity to work with patients with chronic low back pain with a special training program (the so-called Reducept method).
This special training program is for patients with chronic pain without the use of drugs. It is based on scientifically proven pain education and exercises from psychology. The training sessions are given in the Elkerliek by the pain consultant.
worn back
Bas van Lith from Gemert talks about his experience with this innovative method to reduce pain. “About ten years ago they took pictures of my back in the Elkerliek. Worn out. I can still hear the neurologist say it: ‘You have the back of a 65-year-old who has worked hard in construction for years.’ Well, I do work in construction, but I’m not 65. I broke my ankle once and fell from a roof. So that that back has suffered, that was not news,” said Bas.
Tried everything but in vain
Bas continued to exercise and actually did not have that much trouble with his back. Until a year and a half ago. Bas: “I looked like a he would go of eighty years. Stiff, stumbling, pain, I couldn’t lift anything. The physiotherapist could not help me. I had already tried everything. I was eventually referred to the hospital. I thought that was a great idea. Then I thought: ‘Just push a syringe in and you’re done’.”
Take control yourself
But that’s not how it went. Bas came to the Pain Center in Elkerliek. The pain consultant did not suggest the expected injection. No, the Reducept method was introduced. In a few weeks, patients learn how pain arises and how they can influence it themselves. Different elements are used. Think of mindfulness, psychology, education about pain and a journey is made through the own body with the help of virtual reality (VR) glasses.
VR-bril
Bas: “I was skeptical about this in the beginning. I had no idea what to expect. Exercise for six to seven weeks. But I went into it with full conviction.” Bas set to work on the training program. He did his exercises, kept an exercise diary, watched the videos about pain and took ‘a journey through his body’ with VR glasses. “Then you get glasses and you make a journey through your body, as it were. You float along your nerves and see a painful stimulus arise. There you have to put your focus, concentrate well and then you can explode that painful stimulus. Then it disappears. That is really nicely designed. And the result: I now know that I can control the pain.”
Learn to deal with pain differently
Bas describes himself as a straightforward person. Mindfulness and relaxation exercises are not right up his alley. Yet the sober man from Gemert has benefited greatly from it. “I have learned to deal with pain differently. The most important thing I have learned is to realize that there is something wrong with my back. And that this gets in your head. If you start moving, your mind will think: I’m going to send a painful stimulus. I’ve learned how to stop that stimulus, as it were. Of course I’m still in pain. But not so much and I can function just fine.”
Photo: The virtual reality (VR) glasses are used as part of the training program for pain complaints
Editorial type
Ditishelmond.nl
Do you have a news or agenda item, nice photo or video about Helmond and do you want to share it?
Then send it in to our editors. That way we know what’s going on and what’s going on in your neighbourhood!
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 088 166 67 00