No Pain No Gain?

Yesterday, I presented Grand Rounds at the Holy Cross Pain Centre in Calgary. As regular readers will recall, pain is a common consequence and/or cause of weight gain and very often a major barrier to weight management.

Not only is obesity commonly associated with conditions such as fibromyalgia, back pain, osteoarthritis, or plantar fasciitis but also migraines and other forms of headaches.

In the same manner that obesity is a complex syndrome that has a multitude of psychosocial and biological determinants, so is chronic pain. It was therefore not surprising to see that many of the principles of interdisciplinary pain management used at the Holy Cross Pain Centre are not very different from the principles we use in the Weight Wise program.

The team at the Pain Centre is fortunate to have the support of physio- and occupational therapists, nurses, psychologists, pharmacists, dietitians and other allied health professionals as well as a wide range of physician consultants working at their centre.

This complement of health professional is indeed very similar to what we have in our obesity clinic.

There are other important similarities: managing patient expectations, emphasis on self-management, focus on functional goals, attrition rates, and other characteristics of chronic disease management programs.

As I have often blogged, obesity is not really different – it just takes the same approach and resources to manage as other chronic conditions – no more, but also no less!

AMS
Calgary, Alberta