Sign inPain
Main umbrella pain support groups and organisations
Pain Relief Foundation
Funds research into the causes and treatment of chronic pain. Leaflets, tapes, books, etc, available on a wide range of pain related topics.
Action on Pain
A national charity providing support for people affected by chronic pain, either as a sufferer or a carer/relative.
British Pain Society
UK society of health professionals involved in pain management and research. Includes information for patients.
Chronic Pain Policy Coalition
Established in 2006, the Chronic Pain Policy Coalition (CPPC) is a forum uniting professionals, parliamentarians and patients who operate at a policy level to develop an improved strategy for the prevention, treatment and management of chronic pain and its associated conditions.
Pain Concern
UK charity providing information and support for people who live with pain and those who care for and about them. Listening-ear helpline. Free leaflets to help you manage your pain. Their magazine 'Pain Matters' brings you information such as: how to cope with pain; how well are our pain services working? updates on the latest developments.
painSUPPORT
A friendly, supportive and informative not-for-profit organisation for those with chronic pain. An interactive site with a confidential contact club and lively discussion page.
Pain Community Centre
A website developed by Cardiff University's School of Medicine offering professional development education to healthcare professionals, patients and members of the public. Registered healthcare professionals can register for the website - providing access to professional courses, articles, information about local events and contact with other practitioners from across the UK. Members of the public and non-qualified healthcare professionals will also be able to take the courses and access articles, making the website a useful tool for both patients and relatives wishing to improve their own knowledge of pain management.
Neuropathy Trust
Supporting people with peripheral neuropathy and neuropathic pain.
Recommended selfhelp resources
The following selfhelp web resources are recommended by Southampton Pain Management Service:
The Pain Toolkit
Pete Moore, who has persistent pain, asthma and osteoarthritis, has put these tools together with the help of friends, family and health care professionals - special acknowledgement to the Bradford pain Rehabilitation Programme team and NHS Kirklees PCT.
Pain Management - How to get the best from your Health Services
From the Patients Association.
Pain Concern
Pain Concern has a number of free useful booklets available to download such as how to exercise safely, pacing, etc.
Chronic Pain
Selfhelp guide from Moodjuice, an Internet site developed by Choose Life Falkirk and the Adult Clinical Psychology Service, NHS Forth Valley.
Self help guides to purchase
All available on Amazon via the Patient UK bookshop:
- Overcoming Chronic Pain: A Self-Help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioral Techniques - by Frances Cole
- Manage Your Pain - by Michael Nicholas; Allan Molloy; Lois Tonkin; Lee Beetson; A sort of “Haynes Manual” and based upon Pain management courses run by the authors.
- Coping Successfully with Pain (Overcoming common problems) - by Neville Shone.
Information on differing types of pain
Adult Post Operative Pain Management
- Prospect - an online resource to assess evidence for interventions to relieve pain in specific clinical situations, and questions the appropriateness of generalising this information to other clinical circumstances. The group has developed evidence-based guidelines for the management of post-operative pain related to a number of surgical procedures, including elective open colorectal surgery, total knee replacement and mastectomy.
Cancer Pain
- Cancer Pain - a patient guide to complement the SIGN national guideline for health professionals.
- Cancer and pain control - what help to expect when you have pain related to cancer from Cancer Research UK.
Neuropathic Pain
- Neuropathic Pain - from Patient UK.
- Neuropathy Trust
- Neuropathic Pain - pharmacological Management - from NICE.
Phantom Limb Pain
- Phantom limb pain - from the Pain Relief Foundation.
Fibromyalgia
- Fibromyalgia Association - provides comprehensive information on FM for patients.
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (formerly known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy)
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome - from the Pain Relief Foundation.
- Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome - from the RSD Alliance, an umbrella organisation for all those organizations wishing to help those with Complex regional pain syndrome.
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome - from NHS Choices.
See also resources and links in Patient UK for the following painful conditions:
- Angina
- Arthritis
- Back pain
- Breast pain
- Headache
- Migraine
- Neck Pain
- Postherpetic neuralgia
- Shingles
- Trigeminal neuralgia
Drugs / medicines used for pain relief
Opioids for persistent pain
From the British Pain Society - generally considered the authorative guide on this controversial topic.
Drugs for Nerve Pain
From the Pain Relief Foundation.
Pain
Information from emc Medicine Guides.
Pain (severe)
Information from emc Medicine Guides.
Drugs used to treat arthritis
Detailed information on various drugs from the Arthritis UK.
Fentanyl Patches for Use in the Management of Chronic/Persistent Pain
Information from West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust.
Pain Relief at Home – A guide to your ‘pain killers’ and how to take them
Information from Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Other resources
NHS choices
NHS Choices is the government's health portal. It has a number of pages on managing pain and a useful blog on arthritis which discusses pain treatment options.
Bandolier
This hosts the Oxford Pain Internet Site. It firmly based in the principles of evidence-based medicine and has pulled together systematic reviews with pain as an outcome. It is generally regarded as the authoritative guide on pain treatments.
Pain (chronic neuropathic or ischaemic) - Spinal Cord Stimulation
A patient guide to complement the NICE guideline of the same name for health professionals.
Chronic Pain
A patient experience video from Healthtalkonline.
Youth Health Talk - Chronic Pain
A young patient experience video from Youthhealthtalk.
The Chronic Pain Management Clinic
Has information about several types of common chronic pain conditions such as complex regional pain syndrome, fibromyalgia.
Bath Pain Management Services
Bath Pain Management Service aim to enhance individuals' daily functioning, allowing them to return to activities that are important to them, whether their pain is reduced or not. They are a regional centre for rehabilitation of complex pain problems where there is a high degree of disability and a national centre for children and adolescent pain. The website describes psychological therapies’ role in managing pain which can often be misunderstood.
TENS Hire
UK based organisation providing tens machines for pain relief.
Relaxation reviews
Independent reviews of guided relaxation tapes and CDs, with a section on tapes for pain.
Further sources / more detailed information
Some non-UK sites
American Pain Foundation
Founded in 1997 is an independent nonprofit organization serving people with pain through information, advocacy, and support. It is the sister organization of the American Pain Association. Their mission is to improve the quality of life of people with pain by raising public awareness, providing practical information, promoting research, and advocating to remove barriers and increase access to effective pain management.
American Chronic Pain Association
Aims to facilitate peer support and education for individuals with chronic pain and their families so that these individuals may live more fully in spite of their pain. Also, to raise awareness among the health care community, policy makers, and the public at large about issues of living with chronic pain.
Return to Work Matters
An online network that provides news, a forum for issues, articles on research, resources and tools for return to work professionals and people engaged in returning injured people to work. The site authors state they aspire to offer the best available evidence, information and support to employers, medical and rehab practitioners, and insurers primarily in Australia and New Zealand, but with a rapidly growing audience in the UK and the USA.
The following list popular non-UK health information sites with content aimed at the general public. They are mainly from the US. They have not been checked to see if information about the above topic is included but these large sites are comprehensive.
- Non-UK disease / illness sites
- Non-UK self-help / support group sites
More detailed medical information
The following list online sources of more detailed medical information, mainly from the UK. These sites are mainly aimed at health professionals, but are of interest to all. They have not been checked to see if information about the above topic is included, but information about most medical topics can usually be found.
- PatientPlus - hundreds of medical reference articles provided by Patient UK.
- Evidence Based Medicine - such as from Clinical Evidence, The Cochrane Library, etc.
- Database of UK Clinical Guidelines - from NICE, SIGN, etc.
- Medline - abstracts available from thousands of journals.
- Sites listing free online medical textbooks and journals.
- Sites listing free medical images - pictures, atlases, anatomy, skin diseases, etc.